Evaluation of fatigue crack initiation and propagation properties of structural steels with different cyclic softening behavior based on local strain

In this paper, fatigue crack initiation and propagation properties of three structural steels with different static strength and cyclic softening behavior were evaluated and compared with the estimation results based on the local strain response. Steel C had the highest cyclic softening rate, which was 10 times that of steel A and twice that of steel B. The relationship between strain range and fatigue life in the fatigue life region shorter than 10^5 cycles was almost the same regardless of the test steels. The fatigue crack initiation life from the notch bottom of the SENT specimen was almost the same independent of static strength and cyclic softening rate. The crack initiation life estimated from the Strain range versus fatigue life equation using the local strain response measured by DIC was roughly in agreement with the experimental results. Steel C had the highest crack opening load and the slowest fatigue crack propagation rate compared to the other two steels. The local strain range at the fatigue crack tip showed a good correlation with the fatigue crack propagation rate irrespective of the steel grade. In addition, the estimates of fatigue crack propagation rate based on the local strain response were in almost agreement with the experimental results.