A model for fracture mechanics based prediction of the fatigue strength: Further validation and limitations

•Analytical fracture mechanics model for predicting the finite life fatigue strength of components.•Validation exercises based on literature data show satisfying results but also reveal weak points.•Proposal for extending the model to multiple initial defects.

Recently two of the authors of the present paper proposed a model for a fracture mechanics based prediction of the S–N characteristics of metallic components with large microstructural defects and supported this by a validation exercise on tensile plates made of an aluminium alloy AL5380 H321. Here the authors extend the study using a number of further data sets from the literature for which data were available at different R ratios. These data include two aluminium alloys, Al 2024-T3 and Al 7075-T6, and a ductile cast iron, EN-GJS-400-18-LT. Despite of necessary assumptions for the compensation of partially missing input information the results were fairly reasonable with the exception of one data set. The authors identify high applied stress levels in combination with potential multiple crack initiation as the probable root of the problem and propose a scheme how the model can be extended for taking into account crack initiation.