The fatigue life of a component is defined as the total number of cycles or time to induce fatigue damage and to initiate a dominant fatigue flaw which is propagated to final failure.(Shigley & Mischke 2002)
The aim of this project is to calculate the total fatigue life of metallic structures under cyclic loading by applying equations found by Basquin and Manson-Coffin. The local stresses and strains necessary for the calculation are determined by the finite element method. Former studies concerning this subject have used analytical methods to find the local conditions at the critical section. The analytical methods, based on Neuber and Molski-Glinka’s approaches, permit the calculation of the local stresses and strains at the critical section of the structure’s geometry as a function of the nominal stress (forces) applied.
For the finite elements method, ABAQUS is used to determine the local conditions at the critical section of a T-shaped model.