Issue 30

G. Meneghetti et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 30 (2014) 191-200; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.30.25 198 0.01 0.1 1 10 10 -3 5·10 -3 Q [MJ/(m 3 ·cycle)] 0T theT 60000 fN 20000   120000 fN 80000   800000 fN 300000   h=6.05 h=4.36 h=4.57 h=4.66 h=3.63 10000 N 2900 f   Figure 9 : Evaluation of the h constant, Eq. (5). Dashed regression lines in Fig. 9 (a log-log diagram) were calculated for each group. By considering the reduced variation among the h values from an engineering point of view, a unique h value was calculated and resulted equal to 4.57 (continuous line in Fig. 9). After that, all available data were plotted in a Q -N f plane (see Eq. 5, h=4.57) and re-analyzed as a single population, independently of the load ratio, under the hypothesis of log-normal distribution of the number of cycles to failure and with a 95% confidence level. The result is shown in Fig. 10, where the mean line, the 10% - 90% survival probability curves, the inverse slope m , the equivalent energy Q T and the life-scatter T N indexes are plotted. 10 -3 10 -2 10 -1 1 10 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 10 7 N f , number of cycles to failure Q [10 -12 MJ/(m 3 ·cycle)] m = 1.69 T N = 10.7 T Q = 4.07 N A Q A,50% =0.0148·10 -12 [MJ/m 3 ·cycle)] R-1 R=0.1 R=0.5 5.69·10 -16 [MJ/m 3 ·cycle)] Figure 10 : Fatigue data of Fig. 4 analysed in terms of the equivalent energy released as heat by a unit volume of material per cycle Q . Scatter bands are defined for 10 and 90% survival probabilities. By considering the stress amplitude as well as the dissipated energy-based curves (plotted in Fig. 4 and Fig. 6, respectively), one can appreciate that the new Q parameter collapses all the fatigue data into a single scatter band having a constant slope from 10 3 to 2·10 6 cycles, despite the different load ratios involved. Moreover, it is worth noting that the scatter index T N in Fig. 10 is very close to that relevant to the “R=-1” and “R=0.1” series presented in terms of stress amplitude (see Fig. 4) as well as to the “R=-1” series expressed in terms of Q parameter (see Fig. 6).