The influence of biaxial stresses on high-cycle fatigue-crack propagation

Arising from a design study, an examination has been made of the problems associated with evaluating the fatigue behavior of an I-beam section joined to a transverse stiffener, loaded in biaxial bending. A laboratory test rig has been designed to study high-frequency (40–230 Hz) fatigue-crack propagation in the tensile flange of a composite aluminum I-section, for a range of stress biaxiality ratios (λ) from 0 to +1 (equibiaxial tension), λ being varied by adjusting the ratios of loading spans in the two orthogonal axes for the same amount of uniaxial deflection. The results obtained are considered in the context of the significantly contradictory information currently available in the literature. Crack geometry and test procedure (as influenced by load/stress measurement) are found to considerably influence the effect of biaxial stresses on fatigue. Thus, the growth rate of corner-initiated cracks increases with increasing stress biaxiality (monitored in terms of nominal applied stresses), but the reverse is true for center-cracked specimens. When tests are conducted in terms of combinations of local stresses, or data reduced using corrections, there is no significant effect of biaxial stresses on fatigue-crack growth.