Overview

Abstract

The National Symposium on Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics is a forum for presentation and discussion of significant research and its application to life prediction and structural integrity. For the 29th symposium, nearly 100 researchers from 14 countries gathered at Stanford University in Stanford, California on June 24-26, 1997. There, they exchanged information on recent developments on modeling and analyzing fatigue and fracture processes; on applications to real structures and new materials; and on directions for future research. The symposium was organized toward these goals by a group of leading researchers who work in all aspects of fracture and fatigue. The members of this committee were Robert Dodds, Jr., James Newman, Jr., Drew Nelson, Mark Kirk, James Joyce, Robert Dexter, Michael Mitchell, and Walter Reuter, and the success of the symposium is a direct reflection of their efforts. This Special Technical Publication (STP) documents the technical interchange of the 29th Symposium on Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics. It contains 51 papers, 27 on fracture mechanics and 24 on fatigue. In addition to the fine contributions made directly by the authors of the papers, the quality of the papers is a result of the diligence and commitment of a large number of reviewers. The contributions of the editors at ASTM should also be acknowledged. The first paper in the volume is a synopsis of the Twenty-Ninth National Symposium J.L. Swedlow Lecture by Professor C. Fong Shih. Professor Shih's lecture, entitled "Fracture Analysis In The Ductile/Brittle Regime: A Predictive Tool Using Cell Models," described the current state of the art of two-parameter and mechanism-based fracture prediction approaches, with emphasis placed on the development of computational cell models. Professor Shih showed that, within their respective regimes of applicability, both approaches correctly correlate constraint effects on fracture toughness. The 50 papers that followed in the symposium are organized in this volume in three main categories: Fracture Mechanics, Fatigue, and Structural Applications. These are described below.