The effect of loaded volume and stress gradient on the fatigue limit

In this paper an investigation of multiaxial stress based criteria and evaluation methods is presented. The criteria are used with the point, gradient and volume methods. The purpose is to determine the combination of criteria and methods that is best suited for design against the fatigue limit. The evaluation is based on elastic FE-analysis of 15 geometries for which the fatigue limit loads are known. The point method is based on the maximum values of the fatigue stress in each specimen. With the gradient method, the fatigue stress is adjusted with the relative or absolute gradient of the fatigue stress itself. With the volume method, a statistical size effect is considered, by use of a weakest link integral. Thus, the probability of fatigue depends on the fatigue stress distribution. Also, the gradient and volume methods are combined. The results show that the point and gradient methods are not good for prediction of the fatigue limit. It is recommended to use the volume method in fatigue design. It is accurate enough for prediction of the fatigue limit, straightforward to use and easy to interpret. The choice of method is much more important than the choice of criteria.