A physically based extreme value characterization of material fatigue

The most relevant aspects of material fatigue, i.e., the size of fatigue initiating defects, the fatigue limit, and the fatigue life can be characterized by means of extreme value distributions. The present work introduces a new physically based extreme value distribution. This new distribution function is derived by assuming that the size of the fatigue initiating defects in a component are log-normally distributed. It is demonstrated how the different aspects of material fatigue can be related to each other and consistently characterized with a single type of distribution function.

► Proper statistical description is imperative in design against fatigue.
► A new physically based extreme value distribution.
► A consistent approach in statistical characterization of fatigue.