A Model for Fatigue Crack Growth in the Paris Regime under the Variability of Cyclic Hardening and Elastic Properties

Over the last 60 years, several models have been developed governing different zones of fatigue crack growth from the threshold zone to final failure. The best known model is the Paris law and a number of its based on mechanical, metallurgical and loading parameters governing the propagation of cracks. This paper presents an analytical model developed to predict the fatigue crack propagation rate in the Paris regime, for different material properties, yield strength (σ_y), Young’s modulus (E) and cyclic hardening parameters (K’, n’) and their influence by variability. The cyclic plastic deformation at a crack tip or any other cyclic hardening rule may be used to reach this objective, for to investigate this influence, these properties of the model are calibrated using available experimental data in the literature. This FCGR model was validated on Al-alloys specimens under constant amplitude load and shows good agreement with the experimental results.