Incomplete self-similarity and fatigue-crack growth

The Paris power law, which relates fatigue-crack growth rates to the applied stress-intensity range, is an example of a scaling law with the inherent property of incomplete similarity. Previous considerations of dimensions and self-similarity have suggested that the assumed ‘materials constants’ in this law are also a function of specimen size. In this note, the question of the size-dependence of the Paris law is re-examined, and through comparison to a larger body of fatigue-crack growth data in steels, physical explanations why such scaling effects may exist are deduced.