Stages of multiscale fatigue cracking as a nonlinear rotational autowave process

The mechanism involved in fatigue crack propagation in the surface layer of a flat specimen subjected to alternating bending is studied, using a multiscale approach adopted in physical mesomechanics. The incompatibility of channeled plastic shear strains in the surface layer with accommodation elastic strains in the substrate is shown to be responsible for fatigue crack propagation as a nonlinear rotational autowave process.