International Journal of Fatigue 61 (2014) 220225

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Prediction of fatigue crack growth based on low cycle fatigue properties

K.K. Shi a,, L.X. Cai a, L. Chen a, S.C. Wu b, C. Bao a
a
b

School of Mechanics and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 12 May 2013
Received in revised form 8 November 2013
Accepted 11 November 2013
Available online 20 November 2013
Keywords:
Fatigue crack growth
Low cycle fatigue properties
Cyclic plastic zone
Plastic strain energy
Linear damage accumulation

a b s t r a c t
Theoretical models of the fatigue crack growth without articial adjustable parameters were proposed by
considering the plastic strain energy and the linear damage accumulation, respectively. The crack was
regarded as a sharp notch with a small curvature radius and the process zone was assumed to be the size
of cyclic plastic zone. The near crack tip elasticplastic stress and strain were evaluated in terms of modied Hutchinson, Rice and Rosengren (HRR) formulations. Predicted results from two established models
have been soundly compared with open reports for frequently used materials. It is found that experimental results agree well with theoretical solutions.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Fatigue crack growth behaviors have been studied for various
types of engineering structural materials in the past several decades. In order to correlate the damage evolution with the cyclic
deformation characteristics of a material with macroscopic cracks,
notched specimens are typically introduced to calibrate the crack
growth rate da/dN [1]. It is well-known that fatigue cracks initiate
and propagate due to the local cyclic plastic yielding of the materials for exampling Model I cracking problems [2]. A crack growth
law can then be formulated with the help of the stress and strain
eld ahead of the crack tip together with a suitable failure
criterion.
The damage-tolerant design method assumes that engineering
components contain intrinsic imperfections in the form of macro
cracks. Generally, the cracks can propagate only when a certain
critical length is approached. Such a local nature of the fatigue phenomenon can be described using a sigmoidal curve in the fatigue
crack growth rate of log (da/dN) vs. log (DK). The sigmoidal curve
is soundly bounded at the extremes by the lower bound of the fatigue threshold DKth and by the upper bound of the critical stress
intensity factor range DKc. In the intermediate range, log (da/dN)
is nearly linearly correlated with log DK, as formulated by Paris
and Erdogan [3]. Notably, some life relationships between the fatigue crack growth rate and the low cycle fatigue (LCF) properties of
the material have also been established. A number of crack growth
rate models previously proposed surrounding the crack tip region
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 28 87600850; fax: +86 28 87600797.
E-mail address: shikai1000@163.com (K.K. Shi).
0142-1123/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2013.11.007

are individually based on the fatigue ductility [4], the plastic strain
energy [510] and the weighted value of the local strain [11].
Unfortunately, most of these theoretical models intrinsically contain adjustable material parameters that requires to be determined
experimentally or numerically. Although a few equations with
material constants have been established to effectively predict
the fatigue cracking growth characteristics, the bore some problem
is that material constants are especially difcult to be acquired
from the viewpoint of cost.
The progression of fatigue cracking is generally assumed to be
an incremental growth due to a critical energy accumulated at
the crack-tip. The material ahead of the crack is necessarily modeled as an assemblage of uniaxial material elements, and thus
the crack growth can be regarded as the successive failure process
of these elements. Additionally, the width of the material element
is assumed to be the length of cycle plastic zone along the progressive crack direction. More importantly, the success of such a theory
depends on the specication of an appropriate plastic strain energy
criterion and the linear damage accumulation along the crack
growth direction inside of the cyclic plastic zone. As the stress
and the strain are theoretically singular at the crack tip, the plastic
strain and the linear damage are somewhat difcult to dene precisely. However, the singularity will disappear through introducing
the crack tip blunting in this study. Therefore, nite values of the
stress and the strain are the focus of the present study. Two theoretical models of the fatigue crack growth based on the plastic
strain energy and linear damage accumulation therefore were
developed inside the low cycle plastic zone at the crack tip, respectively. Theoretical models can accommodate both the intermittent
growth and the continuum growth currently identied for the

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K.K. Shi et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 61 (2014) 220225

majority of engineering materials. Furthermore, these models can

be used to analyze the surface-based cracking life of engineering
structures such as the nuclear pressure vessels and pipelines, and
high pressure storage tanks.
In the following sections, two analytical models based on the
plastic strain energy (PSE) and the linear damage accumulation
(LDA), respectively, will be thoroughly established, which physically remove some adjustable materials constants for the effective
predictions fatigue crack growth (FCG) rate. Two theoretical model
formulated here are expected to be an important complement to a
relatively reliable solution of in-service fatigue life for engineering
materials.
2. Fatigue crack growth models
An analytical solution of the stress and strain distribution ahead
of a crack loaded in antiplane shear (Mode III) during the smallscale yielding has been derived by Schwalbe [12]. Based on the
Hutchinson, Rice and Rosengred (HRR) eld, a similar analytical
solution as for the tensile loading (Mode I) that is the most important solution from an engineering application viewpoint, is
available for small scale yielding. Despite the signicant plastic
deformation in the crack tip zone, the linear elastic fracture
mechanics (LFEM) approach is frequently regarded as a well-established theoretical method for the small scale yielding analysis.
Consider a material with strain hardening behavior and a
dened stress and strain relationship ahead of the crack tip. The
following Fig. 1 illustrates the cyclic stress-strain relationship.
Assuming Masing behaviors are satised inside of the cyclic
plastic zone at the fatigue crack tip. The increasing branches of
hysteresis loops for various loading levels should be coincident,
thus the stressstrain hysteresis loops can be approximated. The
stress and strain range can thus be written as [13,14]

Drr 2K 0 Dep =2n

2ryc r c 1=1n
E
r
0

Dep r

where ryc = Eeyc is the cyclic tensile yielding stress, E is the elastic
modulus, Dep is the plastic strain range, Dr is the stress range, n0
is the cyclic strain hardening exponent, K0 is the cyclic strain hardening coefcient, rc is the cyclic plastic zone and r is the distance
from the crack tip. The cyclic plastic zone rc can be formulated by
[15]

/2
(/2)

Monotonic plastic
zone border

tip/2
(tip/2)

rc

 2
1
DK
0
4p1 n ryc

in which DK is the stress intensity range.

2.1. FCG based on a plastic strain energy (FCG-PSE)
In terms of the product of the stress and the strain, Eqs. (1) and
(2) can be arranged into the following equation:

Dr  Dep 4K 0

r n0 1 r
yc

The above equation will exhibit a singularity as r ? 0. However,

such singularity is rather unreasonable due to crack tip blunting
from complex material and loading behaviors [16]. With the nature
of crack tip blunting, the stress and strain have a nite magnitude
in a high strain zone ahead of the crack tip. The cyclic plastic zone
is treated as the process zone where the majority of the damages
occurs. In the process zone, the plastic strain range is much larger
than the elastic strain range, thus leading to De  Dep. Let us now
introduce a critical crack blunting radius qc as

qc



1
DK th 2
;
4p1 n0 ryc

where DKth is the stress intensity threshold.

The critical radius qc is associated with the threshold stress
intensity range. Generally, the fatigue cracks will not propagate
when the critical blunting radius is less than the threshold measures from experiments of a material.
Thus Eq. (4) can be rewritten as

Dr  Dep 4K 0

r n0 1
y

rc
r qc

From this, it is seen that the product DrDep in the cyclic plastic
zone can be obtained analytically. By integrating within the range
[0, rc  qc] using above Eq. (6), the plastic strain energy can be
determined by the integral as

r c qc

Dr  Dep dr 4K 0

r n0 1
yc

 r c  ln r c  ln qc ;

The fatigue resistance of the material ahead of the crack is governed hypothetically by the local state of stress and strain range
perpendicularly to the cracking growth examplied for Mode I problems. A fatigue failure criterion can be applied in the cyclic plastic
zone, rc. Based on the Manson-Cofn strain/life relationship
obtained from smooth specimens, strain/life relationship can be
described either in terms of the plastic strain or stress range and
the number of cycles to failure 2Nf. Taking the detrimental effect
of a mean stress into account since Morrows work [15], the superimposition yields the following relationship between the total
stain amplitude and the number of cycles to technical failure Nf.

Dr 2r0f  rm 2Nf b

Dep 2e0f 2Nf c

in which e and r are the fatigue ductility and strength coefcients,

respectively, exponents b and c are the undetermined material
properties and the rm is the mean stress. The product of the plastic
strain and stress range can be calculated using both Eqs. (8) and (9):
0
f

Crack tip

0
f

Dr  Dep 4r0f  rm e0f 2Nf bc :

o

Cyclic plastic zone border

Fig. 1. Distribution of stress and strain at the fatigue crack tip.

10

By rearranging this Eq. (10) and the processing zone, rc  qc, we

can obtain the following relationship,

Dr  Dep  r c  qc 4r0f  rm e0f 2N

bc

 r c  qc ;

11

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K.K. Shi et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 61 (2014) 220225

Table 1
Mechanical and fatigue properties used in present models.
Materials

E (GPa)

ryc (MPa)

K0 (MPa)

n0

r0f (MPa)

e0f

DKth (MPa m1/2)

SAE 1020 steel [18]

7075-T6 Al alloy [19]
4340 steel [19]
A533-B1 steel [6]
API5L X60 steel [18]
E36 steel [9,10,20]

205
71
200
200
200
206

270
469
889
345
370
350

941
781
1910
1047
840
1255

0.18
0.088
0.123
0.1650
0.132
0.21

815
781
1879
869
720
1194

0.114
0.045
0.0895
0.085
0.076
0.124

0.25
0.19
0.64
0.32
0.31
0.60

0.54
0.52
0.636
0.52
0.53
0.570

0.1
0.5
0.7
0.1
0.1
0

11.6
1.98
4.56
7.7
8.0
5.0

in which N is the number of cycles for the crack to penetrate

through rc  qc.
Because Eq. (7) is equal to Eq. (11), the following formulation
can be obtained:

N

"
#1
bc
r n0 1
1
K0
rc
yc



lnr


ln
q

:
c
c
0
0
2 rf  rm ef
E
r c  qc

12

2.2. FCG based on a linear damage accumulation (FCG-LDA)

The linear damage accumulation can be adopted in the model
formulated here. In fact, according to numerical simulations such
as nite element analyses, the curvature of the crack tip is really
non-zero, and then the plastic strain of the crack tip is nite. Let
us now introduce a critical crack blunting radius qc.
Therefore, Eq. (2) can be rewritten as

Note that in the present model, the mean stress will be equal to
zero in the case of the low cycle fatigue tests. Consequently, the
crack extension per cycle da/dN can now be nally dened as

Dep r qc

da r c  qc

dN
N

By combining Eqs. (9) and (16) and a unit damage D = 1/Nf, the
damage distribution of the nodes along with the crack growth
direction in the cyclic plastic zone can be described as follows:

13

Let us now introduce an effective stress intensity range, DKeq,

dened as
2

DK eq DK 

1=2
DK 2th

14

Incorporating Eq. (14) into Eq. (13), the following model can be
acquired as:

Dr qc 2

15

The present Eq. (15) actually looks like the correlation between
crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) and J integral for small
scale yielding and will be used to predict the da/dN  DK relationship for six types of engineering materials in the following study.

ryc
Ee0f

!1=c 

rc
r qc

16

1=ccn0
:

r c qc

Dr qc dr;

18

while a unit average damage is dened as

rc qc

Dr qc dr=r c  qc :

0.1

Reference data
Prediction FCG-LDA
Prediction FCG-PSE

d a/d N / mm/Cycle

0.01

1E-3

SAE 1020 steel

R = 0.1
Kth=11.6MPamm1/2

1E-4

1E-5

1E-6

1E-7

17

It is assumed that each step of crack extension equals the cyclic

plastic zone size in the growth direction. Then, the sum of accumulated damages that occur during each cycle is expressed as

DK 2eq
da

:
dN 4p1 n0 r2yc N


1=1n0
2ryc
rc
:
E
r qc

10

K / MPamm1/2

100

Fig. 2. Fatigue crack growth rate comparisons between present predictions and experiments for SAE 1020 steel.

19

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K.K. Shi et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 61 (2014) 220225

0.1

7075-T6 Alloy
R =0.5
Kth=1.98 MPamm1/2

da/dN / mm/Cycle

0.01

1E-3

1E-4

1E-5

Reference data
Prediction FCG-LDA
Prediction FCG-PSE

1E-6

1E-7

10

K / MPamm1/2

100

Fig. 3. Fatigue crack growth rate comparisons between present predictions and experiments for 7075-T6 Al alloys.

The hypothesis of linear damage accumulation is an important

theory for the current concept of in-service life assessment. Consider the Miner linear damage law, in which the crack advances
one step when the unit average damage [17] is equal to one unit,
that is

X Ni
1:0:
Nif
i

20

The summands of the damage that are given by Eq. (20) are
the quotients of the actual number of cycles at a certain stress
amplitude Ni and the respective number of cycles to fracture
Nif. However, it should be noted that the Miner rule is often a
unsuitable oversimplication. Depending on the load history,
the damage sum may be higher or lower than one [18]. By combining Eqs. (13) and (17), a new theoretical model can be
expressed as

"
 1 1 0 #
Ee0f 1=c c cn0
da r C  qC
qC ccn

2
r 1
dN
N
ryc c cn0 1 C
rC

21

where qc and rc can be calculated using Eqs. (5) and (3),

respectively.

3. Validation of the theoretical models

In present section, fatigue crack growth rates were calculated
for widely used engineering materials by Eqs. (15) and (21),
respectively. Calculated results were thoroughly compared with
experiments from the literatures for six types of structural materials. The relevant materials data are listed in Table 1.
The calculated results are presented from Figs. 27 for homogeneous base materials of SAE 1020 steel, 7075-T6 Al alloys, 4340
steel, A533-B1 steel, API5L X60 steel and E36 steel, respectively.
It can be seen that the theoretical model predictions are in good
agreement with the experimental data over realistic fatigue crack
growth rate ranges. It is surprising that the two theoretical models
give good results over the linear range of the da/dN vs. DK curve, in
which fatigue striations are found. As Eq. (21) ignores the elastic
damage accumulation, Fig. 3 shows that the prediction result of

0.1

Reference data
Prediction FCG-LDA
Prediction FCG-PSE

da/dN / mm/Cycle

0.01

1E-3

1E-4

1E-5

4340 steel
R = 0.7
Kth= 4.56 MPa mm1/2

1E-6

1E-7

10

K / MPa mm1/2

100

Fig. 4. Fatigue crack growth rate comparisons between present predictions and experiments for 4340 steel.

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K.K. Shi et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 61 (2014) 220225

0.1

Reference data
Prediction FCG-LDA
Prediction FCG-PSE

d a/dN / mm/Cycle

0.01

A5333-B1 steel
R = 0.1
Kth=7.7 MPamm1/2

1E-3

1E-4

1E-5

1E-6

1E-7

10

K / MPamm1/2

100

Fig. 5. Fatigue crack growth rate comparisons between present predictions and experiments for A5333-B1 steel.

Eq. (15) is better than the result from Eq. (21) for a 7075-T6 Al alloy. This result indicates that the established model used in Eq.
(21) is comparatively conservative in region II (the intermediate
region of the da/dN vs. DK curve).

Two crack growth analytical models developed are compared

with the experimental results for widely used engineering materials available in the literatures. Comparison of da/dN vs. DK experimental data with model given by Eqs. (15) and (21) is given in
Figs. 27. The following observations are made:

2. The model prediction results agree well with region II (the

intermediate region of the da/dN vs. DK plot). Calculated results
from Figs. 27 show that the proposed models are somewhat
conservative when the process zone is assumed to be equal
to the cyclic plastic zone near the crack tip.
3. Comparisons are made on engineering materials with the wide
range of strength. For all these ranges the present predictions of
life models proposed here are quite satisfactory.
4. Two theoretical models are used in analysis the 7075-T6 Al
alloys. From Fig. 3, it is found that energy-based criteria are
more suitable than linear damage accumulation near the crack
tip.

1. The LCF failure process can be represented by crack initiation,

stable growth and catastrophic propagation stages, with the different duration for different material systems. That is to say,
multiple cycles within the process zone are generally
required for the failure of a material.

As the plane stress solution of Mode I cracking problems is used

in the analysis, it seems to be most appropriate to use two theoretical models described above for the plane stress thin plates. It
should be also pointed out that these models are based on the
HRR solution relevant to be localized plastic yielding. Besides, the

4. Discussions

0.1

Reference data
Prediction FCG-LDA
Prediction FCG-PSE

da/dN / mm/Cycle

0.01

1E-3

1E-4

API5L X60 steel

R = 0.1
Kth=8MPamm1/2

1E-5

1E-6

1E-7

10

K / MPamm1/2

100

Fig. 6. Fatigue crack growth rate comparisons between present predictions and experiments for API5L X60 steel.

225

K.K. Shi et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 61 (2014) 220225

0.1

Reference data
Prediction FCG-LDA
Prediction FCG-PSE

da/dN / mm/Cycle

0.01

1E-3

1E-4

1E-5

E36 steel
R =0
Kth=5MPamm1/2

1E-6

1E-7

10

K / MPamm1/2

100

Fig. 7. Fatigue crack growth rate comparisons between present predictions and experiments for E36 steel.

HRR model and stress intensity factor cannot be used effectively if

the plastic zone size ahead of the crack tip is larger than the
cracked body dimensions.
5. Conclusions
To reduce the material constants to be determined, the present
work attempts to develop a novel fatigue cracking growth rate
model for the life prediction of engineering structures. Based on
the plastic strain energy and the linear damage accumulation,
two different analytical life models have thus been developed here
and validated in details using open published experimental data of
low cycle fatigue properties. From the detailed comparisons, the
following important conclusions can be drawn as follows:
1. These models are soundly capable of predicting the FCG relationship independently using fundamental low cycle fatigue
properties.
2. The crack growth rate formulas, which are described in Eqs.
(15) and (21), do not contain any adjustable parameters.
3. A fairly good agreement exists between the predicted da/
dN  DK relationship and the corresponding experimental data.
Satisfactory agreement is obtained for low and medium crack
growth rate ranges.
It would be of interest to clarify the following issues in the future. First, the present models require to be improved for similar
high strength 7075-T6 Al alloys. Second, more experimental data
should be used to validate the life models. Third, it is a crucial
meaningful for these theoretical models to be applied into fatigue
crack growth tests and further verify this approach.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support for
the present work form National Nature Science Foundation of China (Nos.: 11072205, 51005068 and 11202174).

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