Fatigue life simulation of functionally graded materials under cyclic thermal load using XFEM

•The fatigue life of a plate is evaluated by XFEM under thermal load.•The holes, inclusions and minor cracks significantly affect the fatigue life.•The effect of holes is more severe as compared to the inclusions and minor cracks.•The minor cracks have least effect on the fatigue life of the materials.•The fatigue life of the FGM is found less as compared to its equivalent composite.

In this work, the fatigue life of a functionally graded material (FGM) plate made of aluminum alloy and alumina (ceramic) is simulated under cyclic thermal load. The various discontinuities such as minor cracks, holes and inclusions of arbitrary size are randomly distributed in the plate. The fatigue lives of aluminum alloy, FGM and an equivalent composite (having the same composition as of FGM) plates are evaluated using Paris law in the presence of multiple discontinuities, and are compared with each other.