Notched Fatigue Behavior under Multiaxial Stress States

Most engineering components and structures contain stress concentrations, such as notches. The state of stress at such concentrations is typically multiaxial due to the notch geometry, and/or multiaxiality of the loading. Significant portions of the fatigue life of notched members are usually spent in crack initiation (crack formation and microscopic growth) and macroscopic crack growth. Synergistic complexity of combined stress and stress concentration has been evaluated in a limited number of studies. Available experimental evidence suggests the current life estimation and fatigue damage analysis techniques commonly used may not be capable of accurate predictions for such complex and yet highly practical conditions. This paper investigates notched fatigue behavior under multiaxial loads using aluminum alloys. Many effects involved in such loading conditions are included. These include the effects of stress state (axial, torsion, combined axial-torsion), geometry condition (smooth versus notched), and damage evolution stage (nucleation and micro-crack growth versus long crack growth).