Estimation of Minimum Sonic Fatigue Life of Steel Beam and Plate Structures

Abstract

Structures such as those of engine test cells or wind tunnels may be exposed to intense sound for extended periods and should be designed to ensure they are not prone to premature fatigue failure. This paper presents an approach to determining a lower bound to the fatigue life of structural components exposed to complex sound fields, enabling relatively simple evaluation of candidate structural designs. The presented approach is based on established characterizations of the fatigue behaviors of typical steels and relies on classical analytical results that relate the greatest stresses induced in simple structural elements to oscillatory pressure distributions acting on these elements. Practical application of this approach is discussed, as well as the limitations of the approach.