1

Fatigue Failure Due to

Variable Loading
Section V
2
Variable Loading?
What have we been ignoring?
How rate the lifetime of fatigue or cyclic loaded
parts?
Endurance Limit
Estimating Fatigue Life
Determining the Endurance Limit
Characterizing Fluctuating Stress
Fatigue Failure Criterion Graphically

Talking Points
3
In many actual life applications, some machine members are
subjected to stresses fluctuating between levels.
Often, machine members are found to fail under the action of
these repeated or fluctuated stresses.
Most careful analysis reveals that the actual maximum
stresses were below the ultimate strength of the material, and
quite frequently even below the yield strength.
The most distinguishing characteristic of these failures is that
the stresses have been repeated a very large number of
times.
This type of failure is called fatigue failure.

Variable Loading?
What have we been ignoring?
Suppose the countershaft
is rotating
Static
Dynamic
Is fatigue an issue?
What type of stress
condition do we now have
if the shaft is rotating and
the loads remain in a fixed
direction?
Reversed Bending
As the shaft rotates
the stress alternates
between
Tension @ C
Compression @ D
Shaft rotates 180
degrees
Tension @ D
Compression @ C
C
D
D
C
Reversed Bending - Fatigue
Common indications of
reverse bending
fatigue
Beach Marks
Dark areas indicated in
this figure are
representative of
abrupt or fast
fracture
STRESS PATTERNS FOR
REVERSE BENDING
Unidirection Bending
What does each Beach mark
represent?
Crack slowly propagated and
then stops
Illustrates how the crack front
propagates thru the cross-
section
Failure in a threaded rod or
bolt due to unidirectional
bending
Rough area representing fast
fracture
Common Fatigue Patterns
What type of loading caused
this failure?
Fast fracture
Crack grew from
the center outward
UNIAXIAL TENSILE LOADING
How rate the lifetime of
fatigue or cyclic loaded parts?
Strain Life
Ideal for low cycle fatigue
applications
1N10
3
, where N is the number of
loading cycles
Based on the plasticity at localized
regions of the part
Method is typically not practical for
design use because it requires
knowledge of strain concentration
levels, pages 316 to 317

Fracture Mechanics Approach
Requires the assumption of a pre-
existing crack
Used to predict growth of the
crack with respect to a specified
level of stress intensity
Pages 319 to 323
Stress Life
High fatigue life calculations
10^3N10
6
Large amounts of data
Widely used
Covered in this course
Endurance Limit
Is a stress level in a material that can withstand an infinite number
of loading cycles.
In your text and throughout literature on the subject, the endurance
limit is typically referenced by S
e
.
To determine the endurance limit we use a S-N curve
Always plotted on Log-Log Scale
S
e
S - Strength of the material

N - Number of cycles executed

N=1 - cycle represents a load
application in one direction,
removal, and then once again in
the opposite direction

Knee of the S-N Curve
Estimating Fatigue Life
Approximating fatigue
10
3
N10
6

Just as we saw the linear
behavior of true stress-strain
when plotted on log scale, the
data tends to follow a
piecewise linear function.
We will use this same principal
to develop a power-law for
estimating points in the high
cycle region on the S-N
diagram.

' S
f
= aN
b
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|
= +
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
--
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
-- + = + = '
- + = + = '
+ = '
6
3
6
6
3
6
3
6
10
2
10
10
10
10
10
10
6
10
1000
log log log 2
gives.... ) ( into ng Substituti
log
3
1
log
3
1
gives.... equations two these g Subtractin
) ( 6 10 log log
) ( 3 1000 log log
intercept the is and slope the is where
log log
S
S
S
S
S
C
b
S
f S
S
S
b
C b C b S
C b C b S
C b
C N b S
e
ut
f
( )
( )
e
ut
S
f S
S
S
a
2
10
2
10
6
3
= =

C=log
10
(a)
Finally resulting in
Determining the Endurance
Limit
A rotary device serves as an excellent means of
acquiring such data in a timely manner.
Several thousand cycles can be executed rather quickly
Below is a sketch of a simple apparatus that can be
used to determine the value of the endurance limit.
Much Endurance Data on record
is for steels
Mischke, one of the authors of the
text has actually done an
extensive study in this area and
has determined that the
endurance limit of the material.
Steels



It is important to note that
these estimates are for
clean, highly polished
specimens that are free of
surface defects.

' S
e
=
0.504S
ut
, ksi or MPa S
ut
s 212 ksi (1460 MPa)
107 ksi S
ut
> 212 ksi
740 MPa S
ut
>1460 MPa





Your text emphasizes this point by
the inclusion of a prime mark
above the endurance limit symbol.
Endurance Limit (EL) Modifying
Factors
Factors that can reduce the
EL:
Surface condition, (k
a
)
Size factor, (k
b
)
Load factor, (k
c
)
Temperature, (k
d
)
Reliability factor, (k
e
)
Miscellaneous-effects factor,
(k
f
)
These factors are used to adjust
the endurance limit obtained from
rotating beam specimens.

S
e
= k
a
k
b
k
c
k
d
k
e
k
f
'
S
e
Modified EL - Marins Equation
Now we will discuss how to
effectively estimate these modification
factors.
Surface Factor, k
a
Mischke performed a
regression analysis to
approximate the surface factor
The surface factor, k
a
, takes
the following form:



where S
ut
is the minimum
tensile strength and a and b
are found from the table

k
a
= aS
ut
b
Size Factor, k
b
Once again Mischke has provided
a means for estimating the EL
size modification factor
The size factor arises because of
the geometry of the specimen
used to obtain the endurance
limit
Diameter 0.30 in.
Extruded or drawn bar stock
Grain elongation in the direction
perpendicular to fatigue crack
growth
Likelihood of surface flaws is low

k
b
=
0.879d
0.107
0.11s d s 2 in.
0.91d
0157
2< d s10 in.
1.24d
0.107
2.79s d s 51 mm.
1.51d
0.157
51< d s 254 mm.







For larger parts are more likely to
contain flaws which can result in
premature material failure

For axially loaded specimens the
size factor is one.

Effective circular cross-section may be
computed for non-circular geometry (see
Table 7-5.)
Loading Factor, k
c
Since the usual test used to obtain the EL is the reversed
bending load, modification factors are needed.
Some texts on this subject do not include this factor and
require the user to implement an estimation in the EL
instead.

k
c
=
1 bending
0.85 axial
0.59 torsion






S
e
=
0.50S
u
bending
0.45S
u
axial
0.29S
u
torsion





Temperature, Reliability and
Miscellaneous Factors
Temperature is
relatively simple to
compute and
understand


Reliability Factor
Will not be covered in
detail in this course
Extensive, through
coverage is given to this
factor in the text
Statistics background is
required
Miscellaneous
effects
Corrosion
Manufacturing
process
Residual stresses
Coatings
All of which can have
an adverse effect on
the EL

k
d
=
S
T
S
RT
where S
T
and S
RT
are the tensile strength
at the operating and room temperatures respectively.
Characterizing Fluctuating
Stress
Fatigue loading is oftentimes
caused by a variable loading
source.
To develop failure criterion for
fluctuating stresses, which cause
fatigue failures, we must
characterize how the stress levels
vary as time.
Sinusoidal stress oscillating
about a static stress
Repeated Stress
Completely reversed stress

o
a
=
o
max
o
min
2

o
m
=
o
max
+o
min
2
Fatigue Failure Criterion
Gerber


Modified Goodman


Soderberg

o
a
S
e
+
o
m
S
y
=
1
n

o
a
S
e
+
o
m
S
ut
=
1
n

no
a
S
e
+
no
m
S
ut
|
\

|
.
|
2
=1
Fatigue Failure Criterion
Graphically