Spectral methods for multiaxial random fatigue analysis of metallic structures

This paper presents computationally efficient frequency domain methods for estimating the high-cycle fatigue life of metallic structures subjected to a random multiaxial loading. The equivalent von Mises stress method propose d earlier by the senior author is first reviewed. it is then shown that the multiaxial rainflow method, initially formulated in the time domain, can b e implemented in the frequency domain in a formally similar way. The consis tency of the results are checked by comparison with a time domain method ba sed on the critical plane. It is observed that frequency domain methods pro duce enormous computer savings and correlate fairly well with the time doma in method in terms of localizing the critical areas in the structure. A fre quency domain implementation of Crossland's Failure criterion is also propo sed; it is found in very good agreement and much faster than its time domai n counterpart. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.