Fatigue Resistant Design of Round Bars Weakened by a V-Shaped Circumferential Notch

In the present paper, fatigue crack propagation in V-notched round bars under cyclic eccentric axial loading is numerically evaluated using both a finite element analysis and an automated numerical model proposed by the first author. The stress- intensity factors are computed at a set of points on the crack front by the finite element method. Then, a suitable fatigue crack growth law is applied to the above set of points. By varying the loading eccentricity value and the notch root geometry, several initial semi-elliptical surface crack configurations are analysed.