A METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF THE GROWTH OF SHORT FATIGUE CRACKS

A method for the analysis of the fatigue crack growth rate for short c racks has been developed and is applied to the case of fatigue crack g rowth of short surface cracks in a 1045 carbon steel. The method entai ls three modifications to standard LEFM procedures. These modification s include the use of a material constant to bridge between smooth and cracked specimen behavior, consideration of the plastic zone size to c rack length ratio, and incorporation of the development of crack closu re. Comparisons are made between calculations based upon this approach and experimental data.