YIELD STRESS MODIFICATION IN THE STRIP YIELD MODEL

From among of the deterministic models for fatigue crack growth predictions suitable for metallic materials a Strip Yield (SY) model can be considered the most general and powerful crack growth prediction tool owing to its applicability to arbitrary variable amplitude load histories. The SY model based on the conception of plasticity at the crack tip accord­ing to Dugdale, modified to accounting for the crack closure phenomena. The original Dugdale model is only valid for plane stress state conditions at the crack tip. Accounting for the triaxial stress conditions at the crack tip requires the yield stress modification, what is usually realized by using the suitable constraint factors. In the paper several concepts of the yield stress modification in the SY model have been described and notified. As it has been concluded the another important role of the constraint factors, in addition to accommodating in the SY model the triaxial stress state, is cover­ing indirectly various processes which do affect crack growth, but cannot be treated in a rigorous way.