A fracture mechanics approach to high cycle fretting fatigue based on the worst case fret concept - I. Model development

An integrated analytical and experimental approach was taken to develop a fracture mechanics-based methodology for predicting the limiting threshold stress of high-cycle fretting fatigue in structural alloys. The contact stress field for two flat surfaces under fretting was analyzed via an integral equation technique. The local fretting stress field of the uncracked body was then utilized to obtain the stress intensity factor of an arbitrarily oriented fatigue crack using a continuum dislocation formulation. The limiting threshold stress ranges for the nonpropagation of fretting fatigue cracks were predicted on the basis that the fretting fatigue cracks are small cracks that exhibit a size-dependent growth threshold and propagate at stress intensity ranges below the large-crack threshold. In part I, the development of the worst-case fret (WCF) model is described. The influence of the limiting high-cycle fatigue (HCF) threshold stress on a variety of fretting fatigue parameters such as bearing pressure, pad geometry, shear stress, mode mixity, and coefficient of friction are elucidated by parametric calculations. In part II, the WCF model is applied to treating HCF of Ti-6Al-4V where model predictions are compared against critical experiments performed on a kilohertz fretting-fatigue rig.