FRACTURE MECHANICS

AND
FATIGUE DESIGN

Basic Concepts

Terms relating to fatigue loading:

Smax
Stress or Strain

: maximum stress in
cycle

Smin : minimum stress in cycle

Sm : mean stress in cycle

Smax

Sm

Smin

Stress Range:
S = Smax Smin

Stress Ratio:
R = Smax/Smin
Time

Basic Concepts

Fatigue data is normally presented in a stress-life diagram SN Diagram,

where stress (or strain) range (S or ) versus cycle to failure (N) is plotted.
The high cycle range of fatigue life is above105 cycles (approximately), which
is usually for Marine Structures. In this range, the stress is essentially elastic.
SN data in the high cycle range tend to follow a log-linear relationship, the SN
curve,
log

N(S)m = constant
1
m

log N

Fatigue is caused by cyclic loads, in most cases loads less than the yield
stress of a given material, and is a cycle by cycle process of damage
accumulation.

Fatigue Crack Growth

For welded joints, fatigue crack growth is dominating. The crack growth
process evidently is caused by the local stress/strain at the crack tip.
The stress/strain field is characterized by one parameter, the stress
intensity factor K.
K = S (a)1/2 F
S
a
F

: nominal stress range

: initial crack length
: form function of stress intensity factor,
dependent on external geometry, crack length,crack geometry,
and configuration of loading. (F=1.12 is a good approximation)
(D.P. Rooke and D.J. Cartwright, Compendium of Stress Intensity
Factors, Her Majestys Stationary Office, London, 1976)

Crack Growth may be measured on pre-cracked specimens subjected to

constant amplitude cyclic loading.

Fatigue Finite Life

In the fatigue finite life, the crack growth curve may be approximated by a
straight line on a log-log plot, the Paris-Erdogan Crack Growth Relation,
Paris (1960). This relation has been named Paris Law.

C, m are fitting parameters, which may be taken as material parameters.

Note that C has a dimension which is dependent on the value m.
(Fatigue Crack Parameters C and m for C-Mn Structural Steels BS 4360
Gradde 50 or similar tested in air, Berge 1985)
a is the crack length, which is used as da, as the difference between ai
(initial crack), and af (failure crack).
and N is the number of cycles to failure.

Example Case

Crack Growth of An Edge Crack

ai

af

S = 100 MPa
da/dN = C (K)m
K = S (a)0.5 F
C = 7.1 x 10-12 (m,MPa) -> material properties
m = 3 -> material properties
F = 1.12 -> good approximation

Example Case

Number of cycles to failure for the initial and final conditions given:

The major contribution to life time is when the crack is small. The crack
growth rate is increasing as the crack grows. Determination of the size of
the initial defect (or crack) is therefore of great importance in fatigue life
analysis. The exact size of the crack at final fracture is of relatively low
significance for fatigue life assessment. In many cases an infinitely long
crack may be assumed, as an approximation.

Fatigue Design Philosophy

Safe-Life Design
In the safe life approach to fatigue design, the typical cases of fatigue
loading which are imposed on a structural component in service are first
determined. The safe-life approach depends on achieving a specified life
without a development of a fatigue crack, so that the emphasis is on the
prevention of fatigue crack initiation.

Fail-Safe Design
The fail-safe approach, by contrast, is based on the argument that even if
an individual member of a large structure fails due to fatigue cracking, there
should be sufficient structural integrity in the remaining parts to enable the
structure to operate safely until the crack is detected.

Cumulative Damage

The Miner Summation

Fatigue design of welded structures is based on constant amplitude SN
Data. A marine structure, however, will experience a load history of
stochastic nature.
The development of fatigue damage under stochastic or random loading is
in general termed cumulative damage. Numerous theories for calculating
cumulative damage from SN Data may be found in the litrature. However,
the Miner summation has proved to be no worse than any other method,
and much simpler. Hence, virtually all fatigue design of steel structure
(bridges, cranes, offshore structures, etc.) is based on this procedure. It will
be shown below that the Miner summation conforms with a fracture
mechanics approach.
The basic assumption in the Miner summation method is that the damage
on the structure per load cycle is constant at a given stress range and equal
to:
where N is the constant amplitude endurance at the given
stress range.

Cumulative Damage

The Miner Summation

In a stress history of several stress ranges Sr,I, each with a number of cycles
ni, the damage sum follows from

where ni is the number of cycles of the occurred stress range, and Ni is the
number of cycles to failure, as in Paris Law.
Failure criterion is when:

Df = 1

Cumulative Damage

Equivalent Stress Range

The miner sum may be expressed in terms of an equivalent stress range,
Sr,eq. Inserting for the SN-curve:

So that, for the SN-curve, an equivalent stress range given by:

and the fatigue life given by the total number of cycles N. Thus, the Miner
sum at fracture may be represented by an equivalent stress SN-curve,
which for a weld detail with a given constant amplitude SN-curve will
depend on the shape of the load spectrum.

Cumulative Damage

Equivalent Stress Range

The Weibull distribution function can be shown to fit many stress spectra for
marine structures. Cumulative load spectra for wave loaded structures may
be described by a 2-parameter weibull distribution:

S0
n
n0
h

- maximum stress range in the load history (extreme stress range)

- number of load cycles exceeding S
- total number of load cycles in the load history
- Weibull shape parameter
- the complete Gamma function

Cumulative Damage

Equivalent Stress Range

S/ So

h = 1.5
h = 1.0
h = 0.5

Log n

Exceedances of stress ranges represented by the Weibull distribution with

different shape parameters.

Example Case

Crack Growth of An Edge Crack

ai
t

S1 = 30 MPa occurs in 2000 cycles; S2 = 200 MPa occurs in 200 cycles

S (in one year load history)
da/dN = C (K)m
K = S (a)0.5 F
C = 7.1 x 10-12 (m,MPa) -> material properties
m = 3 -> material properties
F = 1.12 -> good approximation
t = 1400 mm
ai = 5 mm

Example Case

The final stage of crack growth through a plate as in this case will be rapid.
For this reason, a = t is taken as a failure criterion.
SN-curve to failure:
N(S)3 = 5.00 x 1011
Equivalent stress range for a one year load history:

Inserted in equation for SN-curve:

N = 6.68 x 105
Miner sum contribution per year:
D = (2200)/(6.68 x 105) = 0.0033
Life to failure: 1/D = 303 years