Multiaxial fatigue assessment based on a short crack growth concept

The fatigue life to initiate a crack of technical size is interpreted as a pure growth process of a mechanically short crack. A set of equations and corresponding simulation procedures are outlined which can be used to assess multiaxial, in especially including non-proportional variable amplitude loading of notched components. The prediction accuracy of this approach is compared to the accuracy of other approaches. The comparison was performed using experimental data recently published in a comprehensive investigation performed by Franz and Xin.