A Structural Stress Approach Accounting for Notch Effects on Fatigue Propagation Life: Part I Theory

This paper presents the Notch Structural Stress method for reflecting the notch effect on fatigue crack propagation lives, which is based on a closed-form stress solution along the ligament and an analytical KI solution for the crack propagating under notch effect. Besides that, the validity of the proposed method is further verified by carrying out the double V-notch fatigue tests and reanalyzing the blunt notch fatigue tests reported in the literature. Compared with the often-used stress procedures, the Notch Structural Stress parameter provides a more effective consolidation of the S-N data from different notch angles, notch types, and load types.