Fatigue life prediction by statistical approach under constant amplitude loading

In general, the experimental data of fatigue crack growth rates scatter very much even under identical experimental condition such as a constant amplitude loading condition. It is, thus, essential to take into account the data scatter of crack growth rates by using statistical approach for a reliable fatigue crack propagation analysis. In this study, fatigue crack propagation tests were conducted on a 1.02 mm-thick 2024-T3 aluminum alloy under a constant amplitude loading condition. The distribution of the fatigue crack propagation life is estimated by using the stochastic Markov chain model based on a modified Paris-Erdogan equation to consider the variability of the fatigue crack growth. The fatigue lives estimated by using the Markov chain model are found to be agreed well with the experimental results.