Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973

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Mechanics of Materials
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mechmat

Modeling of fatigue crack growth of stainless steel 304L

Feifei Fan, Sergiy Kalnaus, Yanyao Jiang *
Department of Mechanical Engineering (312), University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An effort is made to predict the crack growth of the stainless steel 304L based on a newly
Received 7 November 2007 developed fatigue approach. The approach consists of two steps: (1) elastic–plastic finite
Received in revised form 9 June 2008 element (FE) analysis of the component; and, (2) the application of a multiaxial fatigue cri-
terion for the crack initiation and growth predictions based on the outputted stress–strain
response from the FE analysis. The FE analysis is characterized by the implementation of an
advanced cyclic plasticity theory that captures the important cyclic plasticity behavior of
Keywords:
the material under the general loading conditions. The fatigue approach is based upon
Damage accumulation
Fatigue crack growth
the notion that a material point fails when the accumulated fatigue damage reaches a cer-
Fatigue criterion tain value and the rule is applicable for both crack initiation and growth. As a result, one set
of material constants is used for both crack initiation and growth predictions. All the mate-
rial constants are generated by testing smooth specimens. The approach is applied to Mode
I crack growth of compact specimens subjected to constant amplitude loading with differ-
ent R-ratios and two-step high–low sequence loading. The results show that the approach
can properly model the experimentally observed crack growth behavior including the
notch effect, the R-ratio effect, and the sequence loading effect. In addition, the early crack
growth from a notch and the total fatigue life can be simulated with the approach and the
predictions agree well with the experimental observations.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Load-bearing engineering components are often sub-
jected to cyclic loading and failure due to fatigue is of a
great concern. Generally, fatigue process consists of three
stages: initiation and early crack growth, stable crack
growth, and final fracture. Traditionally, the crack growth
rate (da/dN) is expressed as a function of the stress inten-
sity factor range (DK) on a log–log scale. The stable crack
growth results under constant amplitude loading with dif-
ferent R-ratios (the minimum load over the maximum load
over a loading cycle) are often represented by the Paris law
(Paris and Erdogan, 1963) and its modifications (Walker,
1970; Kujawski, 2001). Different materials behave differ-
ently under constant amplitude fatigue loading. Some
materials display a R-ratio effect: crack growth rate curves
are coincided for the same R-ratio, but a higher R-ratio re-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 775 784 4510; fax: +1 775 784 1701.
E-mail address: yjiang@unr.edu (Y. Jiang).
sults in a higher crack growth rate (Kumar and Garg, 1988;
Pippan et al., 2005; Wu et al., 1998; Zhao et al., 2008).
Other metallic materials do not reveal any R-ratio effect,
and the curves for constant amplitude loading overlap in
a log–log scale (Crooker and Krause, 1972; Kumar and Pan-
dey, 1990; Wang et al., to appear).
The fatigue crack growth behavior under variable
amplitude loading is another subject that has been studied
for a number of years. The application of an overload (ten-
sile load of high magnitude applied over one cycle pre-
ceded and followed by constant amplitude loading) or
change in the loading amplitude (so-called high–low se-
quence loading experiments) can introduce profound
effects on the fatigue crack growth. For most metallic
materials, the application of the abovementioned loading
schemes results in a crack growth rate retardation. Based
on the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) concept,
such a transient behavior is often modeled by using the
stress intensity factor concept and by introducing correc-
tion factors to the Paris law on the stable crack growth

0167-6636/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mechmat.2008.06.001
962 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973
regime. A model of such a type was introduced by Wheeler
(1972) and can be viewed as a practical way of treating the
effects of variable amplitude loading. Several modifications
on Wheeler’s model have been proposed (Kim et al., 2004;
Yuen and Taheri, 2006; Zhao et al., 2008) targeting the par-
ticular shapes of the crack growth curves for different
materials subjected to variable amplitude loading. These
models have little or no physical basis and the results of
the crack growth experiments are needed in order to ob-
tain a set of fitting constants to calibrate the models.
Since its introduction by Elber (1970), the crack closure
concept is often used to explain crack growth behavior. The
retardation in crack growth rate generated by a single ten-
sile overload was explained by using the crack closure con-
cept in Elber’s later study (Elber, 1971). The concept of Kop
was introduced as a stress intensity factor corresponding
to the crack opening load, and the effective stress intensity
factor range from Kop to Kmax was considered as a crack
driving parameter. As a result, the contribution to crack
propagation comes from a part of the total stress intensity
factor range corresponding to the part of the cycle when
the crack is open. Such an approach is used to explain
the R-ratio and variable loading effects. However, the crack
closure method has been under criticism based upon
experimental observations (Lang and Marci, 1999; Sada-
nanda et al., 1999; Silva, 2004; Feng et al., 2005) and
numerical simulations (Jiang et al., 2005; Mercer and Nich-
olas, 1991; Zhao et al., 2004).
Crack-tip blunting has been used to explain the crack
advance (Gu and Ritchie, 1999; Tvergaard, 2004). The
retardation caused by an overload is attributed mainly to
the compressive residual stresses ahead of the crack tip,
plasticity induced crack closure behind the crack tip, or
the combination of these two. The initial acceleration in
the crack growth immediately after the application of an
overload was explained as a result of the tensile residual
stress due to crack-tip blunting (Makabe et al., 2004). The
finite element analysis was used to analyze the stress dis-
tribution and the crack opening displacement which was
related to the variable amplitude loading effects (Zhang
et al., 1992; Ellyin and Wu, 1999; Tvergaard, 2006).
Generally, a fatigue crack is nucleated at a notch due to
the stress concentration. The so-called notch effect on
short crack behavior exists and the crack growth rate
may be higher or lower than that expected based on the
stable growth. Extensive research has been carried out to
study the crack initiation and early crack growth behavior
from a notch. Around a notch, a transition zone exists and
the fatigue crack growth rate may decelerate, accelerate, or
non-propagate after the crack initiation under constant
amplitude loading. In order to model the short crack
growth behavior from a notch, efforts were concentrated
on the ‘‘effective stress intensity factor” near the notches
(Sadanandam and Vasudevan, 1997; Dong et al., 2003;
Teh and Brennan, 2005; Vena et al., 2006), notch tip plas-
ticity (Li, 2003; Hammouda et al., 2004), and the combina-
tion of crack tip cyclic plasticity and the contact of the
crack surfaces (Ding et al., 2007a).
A recent effort by Jiang and co-workers (Ding et al.,
2007a,b; Feng et al., 2005; Jiang and Feng, 2004a) at-
tempted to use a multiaxial fatigue criterion to unify the
predictions of both crack initiation and crack growth. The
notion is that both crack initiation and the subsequent
crack growth are governed by the same fatigue criterion.
A material point fails to form a crack once the accumula-
tion of the fatigue damage reaches a certain critical value.
The approach has been applied to 1070 steel with success.
The predictions of the early crack growth from notches
(Ding et al., 2007a; Jiang, Ding and Feng, 2007), the stable
crack growth (Feng et al., 2005; Jiang and Feng, 2004a;
Jiang, Ding, and Feng, 2007), the overload effect (Jiang
and Feng, 2004a; Jiang, Ding, and Feng, 2007), the R-ratio
effect (Jiang and Feng, 2004a; Jiang, Ding, and Feng,
2007), and the crack growth under direction-changing
loading (Ding et al., 2007b) agreed well with the experi-
mental observations. All the predictions of the crack
growth were based on the material constants generated
from testing the smooth specimens.
In the present investigation, the aforementioned ap-
proach is used to simulate the crack growth from the
notched specimens made of the AISI 304L austenitic stain-
less steel. The notch effect on the early crack growth, the R-
ratio effect, and the influence of the loading sequence are
modeled. The stress analysis is conducted by using the fi-
nite element method implementing a robust cyclic plastic-
ity model. The predicted results are compared with the
results of the crack growth experiments.
2. Crack growth modeling
In the present investigation, the fatigue approach devel-
oped by Jiang and co-workers (Jiang and Feng, 2004a; Jiang
et al., 2007) is used to model the crack growth of the stain-
less steel 304L. The approach is based on the assumption
that any material point fails if the accumulation of the fa-
tigue damage reaches a critical value on a material plane. A
fresh crack surface will form on the material plane at the
material point. Essentially, the approach consists of two
major computational steps:
a) Elastic–plastic finite element (FE) stress analysis for
the determination of the stress and strain history at
any material point of a component, and,
b) Application of a multiaxial fatigue criterion utilizing
the stress and strain obtained from the previous step
for the determination of crack initiation and crack
growth.
The following sub-sections describe the methods em-
ployed in the current study.
2.1. Cyclic plasticity model and multiaxial fatigue criterion
Earlier studies indicate that an accurate stress analysis
is the most critical part for the fatigue analysis of the mate-
rial (Jiang and Kurath, 1997a,b; Jiang and Zhang, 2008;
Kalnaus and Jiang, 2008; Jiang et al., 2007). If the stresses
and strains can be obtained with accuracy, fatigue life
can be reasonably predicted by using a multiaxial fatigue
criterion. The elastic–plastic stress analysis of a notched
or cracked component requires the implementation of a
 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973
cyclic plasticity model into FE software package. The selec-
tion of an appropriate cyclic plasticity model is crucial for
an accurate stress analysis of a component subjected to
cyclic loading.
Cyclic plasticity deals with the non-linear stress–strain
response of a material under repeated external loading. A
cyclic plasticity model developed by Ohno and Wang
(1993, 1994) and Jiang and Sehitoglu (1996a,b) is used in
the present FE simulations of the stress and strain response
in a notched or cracked component. The model is based on
the kinematic hardening rule of the Armstrong–Frederick
type. Basic mathematical equations constituting the model
are listed in Table 1. A detailed description of the plasticity
model together with the procedures for the determination
of material constants can be found in corresponding refer-
ences (Jiang and Sehitoglu, 1996a,b). The choice of the cyc-
lic plasticity model was based on its capability to describe
the general cyclic material behavior including cyclic strain
ratcheting and stress relaxation that occur in the material
near the notch or crack tip.
The plasticity model listed in Table 1 was implemented
into the general purpose FE package ABAQUS (2007)
through the user defined subroutine UMAT. A backward
Euler algorithm is used in an explicit stress update algo-
rithm. The algorithm reduces the plasticity model into a
non-linear equation that can be solved by Newton’s meth-
od. The corresponding consistent tangent operator is de-
rived for the global equilibrium iteration, which ensures
the quadratic convergence of the global Newton–Raphson
equilibrium iteration procedure (Jiang et al., 2002).
A critical plane multiaxial fatigue criterion developed
by Jiang (2000) is used for the assessment of fatigue dam-
age. The criterion can be mathematically expressed as
follows,
 m   
rmr r 1b
dD ¼ 1 1þ br dep þ s dcp
r0 rf 2 Material constants for SS304L
In Eq. (1), D represents the fatigue damage on a material
plane and b and m are material constants. r and s are
the normal and shear stresses on a material plane, and ep
and cp are the plastic strains corresponding to stresses r
and s, respectively. r0 and rf are the endurance limit and
the true fracture stress of the material, respectively. rmr
is a memory stress reflecting the loading magnitude. For
constant amplitude loading, rmr is equal to the maximum
equivalent von Mises stress in a loading cycle. The use of
Table 1
Cyclic plasticity model used in the finite element simulations
Yield function f ¼ ðe ~ Þ : ðe
Sa ~ Þ  2k2 ¼ 0
Sa
Flow law d~ep ¼ 1h hd~ ~ in
S:n ~
PM
Hardening Rule a~ ¼ i¼1 a~ ðiÞ
~ ðiÞ ¼ cðiÞ r ðiÞ
da
(i = 1, 2, 3, . . . M)
963
MacCauley bracket h i ensures that when rmr 6 r0 the fati-
gue damage is zero. The critical plane is defined as the
material plane where the fatigue damage accumulation
first reaches a critical value, D0.
The Jiang multiaxial fatigue criterion has been success-
fully applied to the fatigue predictions of a variety of mate-
rials (Ding et al., 2007a,b; Feng et al., 2005; Gao et al., to
appear; Jiang, Ding, and Feng, 2007; Jiang et al., 2007; Zhao
and Jiang, 2008). The incremental form of the criterion (Eq.
(1)) does not require a separate cycle counting method for
general loading conditions. Any fatigue criterion making
use of the stress/strain amplitude or range requires the
definition of a loading cycle or reversal. Therefore, a cycle
counting method is needed to deal with the variable ampli-
tude loading. Although the rain-flow cycle counting meth-
od is widely accepted for counting the loading reversals/
cycles, it is not well defined for general multiaxial loading.
The second feature of the criterion expressed by Eq. (1) is
its capability to predict the cracking behavior. The Jiang fa-
tigue criterion is a critical plane approach which is capable
of predicting different cracking behavior through the intro-
duction of constant b in Eq. (1). The value of constant b is
selected to predict a particular mode of cracking based
on the smooth specimen experiments. It has been shown
(Jiang et al., 2007; Zhao and Jiang, 2008) that the predic-
tions of the cracking behavior based on the Jiang criterion
are generally more accurate than the predictions based on
the other multiaxial criteria such as the Fatemi–Socie mod-
el (Fatemi and Socie, 1988), the Smith–Waltson–Topper
model (Smith et al., 1970) and the short-crack based crite-
rion (Döring et al., 2006).
Table 2 lists the material constants used in the cyclic
plasticity model and the fatigue model for stainless steel
Table 2
ð1Þ
Cyclic plasticity Elasticity modulus E = 200 GPa
constants Poisson’s ratio l = 0.3
k = 115.5 MPa
c(1) = 1381.0, c(2) = 507.0, c(3) = 172.0, c(4) = 65.0,
c(5) = 4.08
r(1) = 93.0 MPa, r(2) = 130.0 MPa, r(3) = 110.0 MPa,
r(4) = 75.0 MPa, r(5) = 200.0 MPa
v(1) = v(2) = v(3) = v(4) = v(5) = 8.0
Fatigue constants r0 = 270 MPa; m = 1.5;b = 0.5;rf = 800 MPa;
D0 = 15000 MJ/m3
e
S ¼ deviatoric stress
a~ ¼ backstress
k = yield stress in shear
~ ¼ normal of yield surface
n
h = plastic modulus function
~ep ¼ plastic strain
a~ ðiÞ ¼ ith backstress part
 vðiÞ þ1 !
~  k ðiÞ k
a~ ðiÞ a~ ðiÞ
n dp M = number of backstress parts
r ka~ ðiÞ k
dp = equivalent plastic strain increment
c(i), r(i), v(i) = material constants
964 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973

304L. The cyclic plasticity material constants were ob-

tained from the cyclic stress–strain curve which was ob-
tained from the experiments on the smooth specimens
under fully reversed tension-compression loading. A com-
plete description of procedure for determination of mate-
rial constants can be found in corresponding references
(Jiang and Sehitoglu, 1996a,b). The fatigue material con-
stants were determined by comparing the fatigue data un-
der fully reversed tension-compression and that under
pure torsion (Jiang, 2000).

2.2. Finite element model

Fig. 2. Finite element mesh model.

Round compact specimens with a thickness of 3.8 mm
were used in the crack growth experiments. The geometry
and the dimensions of the specimen are shown in Fig. 1.
The crack growth experiments were conducted in ambient
air. The specimens were subjected to constant amplitude
loading with different R-ratios (the minimum load over
the maximum load in a loading cycle) and high–low se-
quence loading. All of the experiments started without a
pre-crack, except two specimens tested under the follow-
ing loading conditions: R = 0.85, DP/2 = 0.54 kN and
R = 1, DP/2 = 5.0 kN. More detailed information of the
experiments and the experimental results were reported
in a separate presentation.
Due to the small thickness, plane-stress condition was
assumed for the round compact specimen. Four-node
plane-stress elements were used in FE mesh model. The
FE mesh model shown in Fig. 2 was created by using the
FE package HyperMesh (Altair HyperMesh, 2004). Due to
the symmetry in geometry and loading, only half of the
specimen was modeled. To properly consider the high
stress and strain gradients in the vicinity of the notch or
crack tip, very fine mesh size was used in these regions.
The size of the smallest elements in the mesh model was
0.05 mm. There were approximately 3058 to 5067 ele-
ments used in the mesh model depending on the crack
size. The knife edges for the attachment of the open dis-
placement gage in the specimen (Fig. 1) were not modeled
because the free end of the specimen does not affect the
stress and strain of the material near the crack tip or notch.
Referring to the coordinates system employed in Fig. 2,
the tensile external load, P, is applied in the y direction uni-
formly over nine nodes on the upper surface of the loading
hole. To mimic the actual loading condition, the compres-
sive load is applied in the negative y direction uniformly
over nine nodes on the lower surface of the loading hole.
The displacements in the x direction of the middle nodes
on the upper edge of the loading hole are set to be zero.
The displacements in the y direction for all the nodes on
the plane in front of the crack tip or the root of the notch
are set to be zero.
In order to consider the possible contact between the
upper and lower surfaces of a crack, the FE model incorpo-
rates the contact pairs defined in ABAQUS (2007). The
crack surface of the lower symmetric half of the specimen
is considered as a rigid surface which acts as the master
surface. The corresponding crack surface of the upper half
of the specimen serves as the slave surface.
2.3. Determination of crack growth rate

For continuous crack growth under constant amplitude

loading with small yielding, a simple formula was derived
for the determination of the crack growth rate (Jiang and
Feng, 2004a),
da A
¼ ; ð2Þ
dN D0
where,
Z r0
A¼ DDðrÞ dr; ð3Þ
0

r is the distance from the crack tip and r0 is the damaging

zone size ahead of the crack tip where the fatigue damage
is non-zero. DD(r) is the maximum fatigue damage per
loading cycle with respect to all possible material planes
at a given material point. DD(r) is determined by integrat-
ing Eq. (1) over one loading cycle,
I  m   
rmr r 1b
DD ¼ 1 1þ br dep þ s dcp
cycle r0 rf 2
Fig. 1. Geometry and dimensions of the round compact specimen (all
dimensions in mm). ð4Þ
 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973
for a given material point once the stress–strain response
at the point is known. In Eq. (3), A denotes the damaging
area enclosed by the DD(r)–r curve.
Fig. 3 shows the distribution of DD(r) along the x-direc-
tion for Specimen C01 which was subjected to constant
amplitude loading with R = 0.1 and DP/2 = 2.475 kN.
According to the fatigue criterion, Eq. (1), a material plane
will accumulate fatigue damage when the memory stress
is higher than the endurance limit and the material point
experiences plastic deformation. For a cracked component,
only the material near the crack tip accumulates fatigue
damage. The values of DD(r) are determined along all ra-
dial directions in a polar coordinate system with its origin
being at the crack tip. The direction at which the crack
growth rate is a maximum or the value of A is a maximum
is the predicted cracking direction. The corresponding
crack growth rate is the predicted crack growth rate.
2.4. Crack initiation and early crack growth from notch
The approach described in the previous sub-sections as-
sumes that a material point fails to form a fresh crack on
the critical plane when the accumulation of the fatigue
damage on the critical material plane reaches a critical va-
lue, D0. The rule applies to the initiation of a crack and the
crack extension after a crack has been formed. Therefore,
the approach unifies both the initiation and the subse-
quent crack propagation stage. The distribution of the
stress-plastic strain field in the vicinity of a notch root,
however, influences the early crack growth, which should
be properly considered.
The definition of crack initiation used in the current
study is different from that of the traditional way. The
crack initiation of a fatigue crack is judged by using the fa-
tigue criterion, Eq. (1). Once the fatigue damage on a mate-
rial plane for the material point at the notch root reaches
the critical fatigue damage, D0, the notched member is
called to have initiated a fatigue crack.
The FE stress analysis is conducted with the notched
member for the designated loading condition. For a
notched component, the maximum fatigue damage occurs
at the notch root. The fatigue damage per loading cycle can
be determined and it can be plotted as a distribution along
the radial direction from the notch root. Fig. 4 shows an
example for Specimen C20 (R = 0.2, DP/2 = 2.0 kN, notched
depth an = 7.38 mm, notch radius = 2.0 mm). The distance,
Damaging Zone Size
50
40
ΔD (MJ/m )
3
30 Material: SS304L
20
Specimen C01
A R=0.1, ΔP/2=2.475kN
10 an= -1.34mm
a=7.34mm
0 damage per loading cycle, DD(r), can be determined as a
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
r, Distance from Crack Tip (mm)
Fig. 3. Distribution of fatigue damage per loading cycle radiated from the
crack tip.
965
0.4
ΔDin Material: SS304L
ΔDi (MJ/m )
3
0.2
Specimen C20
R=0.2, ΔP/2=2.0kN
an=7.38mm
Notch Radius=2.0mm
0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
Notch Root r, Distance fron Notch Root (mm)
Fig. 4. Fatigue damage per loading cycle during crack initiation.
r, from the notch root is along the x-axis (refer to Fig. 1).
DDi denotes the fatigue damage per loading cycle on the
critical plane during crack initiation. DDi is a function of
the location of the material point.
The maximum fatigue damage occurs at the notch root
during crack initiation. The crack initiation life is predicted
to be,
D0
Ni ¼ ; ð5Þ
DDin
where Ni is the predicted crack initiation life, D0 is a mate-
rial constant, and DDin is the fatigue damage per loading
cycle on the critical plane at the root of the notch. DDin is
DDi shown in Fig. 4 when r = 0.
During crack initiation, the fatigue damage is also accu-
mulated in the vicinity of the notch root and should be
considered in the determination of the crack growth near
the notch. The area where the fatigue damage accumula-
tion is non-zero during crack initiation (Fig. 4) is referred
to as the notch influencing zone (NIZ). For a specimen un-
der a given loading condition, the NIZ can be determined
by applying the fatigue criterion, Eq. (1), with the stress
and strain histories outputted from the FE analysis. For
Specimen C20 shown in Fig. 4, the NIZ size is approxi-
mately 0.85 mm ahead of the notch root.
For each material plane at any material point, the total
fatigue damage at the end of the fatigue crack initiation is
NiDDi. It should be reiterated that the discussion is based
on the assumption that the material is stable in stress–
strain response and the applied loading is constant ampli-
tude. The crack growth rate within the NIZ can be deter-
mined by using the following equation with the
consideration of pre-existing fatigue damage accumulation
(Ding et al., 2007a):
da A
¼ : ð6Þ
dN D0  Ni DDi ðrÞ
where A is the damage area enclosed by the DD(r)–r curve,
as explained in Section 2.3. In Eq. (6), Ni and DDi(r) are re-
lated to the fatigue damage accumulation during crack ini-
tiation in the NIZ. For a given crack size within the NIZ the
FE analysis is conducted. The distribution of the fatigue
1.0 function of the distance from the crack tip, as shown in
Fig. 3. The enclosed area made by the DD(r)–r curve is A
in Eq. (6). For any direction radiated from the crack tip,
the direction which has the highest crack growth rate is
966 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973

the predicted cracking direction and the corresponding
crack growth rate is the predicted crack growth rate. It
can be seen that the difference between the crack growth
rate determination near the notch (Eq. (6)) and that away
from the notch root (Eq. (2)) lies in the consideration of
the fatigue damage caused during the crack initiation stage.
Generally, the stress–strain response becomes stabi-
lized after a limited number of loading cycles. It was shown
(Jiang and Feng, 2004a) that the predicted crack growth re-
sults obtained based on the stress–strain response from
the 10th loading cycle were very close to those based on
the stabilized stress and strain response. Therefore, the
FE analysis for a given notch or crack length under a desig-
nated loading amplitude is conducted for 10 loading cycles.
The stress and strain results at the 10th loading cycle are
used for the fatigue analysis.
The stress and strain results obtained from analyzing
the notched component during crack initiation will deter-
mine the fatigue damage per loading cycle for each mate-
rial plane at each material point. Eq. (5) is used to
determine the crack initiation life. FE stress analyses are
conducted with different crack lengths for a given loading
condition. When the crack tip is within the notch influenc-
ing zone, Eq. (6) is used for the crack rate determination.
DDi(r) in Eq. (6) is the fatigue damage per loading cycle
for a given material point during crack initiation. Once
the crack grows out of the NIZ, Eq. (2) is used for the crack
growth rate determination. In fact, DDi(r) is determined
during crack initiation. As a result, Eq. (6) can be used for
both situations since DDi(r) is zero for the material points
out of the notch influencing zone.
It should be noticed that the FE simulation is conducted
cycle by cycle mimicking the real crack growth procedure.
The crack initiation life is determined first. The crack
growth rates at several crack lengths are predicted by using
the approach. Therefore, the prediction is the relationship
between the crack growth rate, da/dN, and the crack length
for a given notched component. With the crack initiation
life obtained from using Eq. (5), the relationship between
the crack length and the number of loading cycles can be
class of metastable steels of 300-series. Austenitic steels
display a R-ratio effect when subjected to constant ampli-
tude loading, as has been shown for AISI 304 (Mei and
Morris, 1990) and AL6-XN (Kalnaus et al., 2008). The
experimental data used in the present investigation was
the results of a series of experiments conducted by the
authors.
Fatigue crack growth experiments were performed
using round compact specimens made of stainless steel
304L. The compact specimens were machined from an
as-received cold rolled round bar. The bar had a diameter
of 41.28 mm. The dimensions of the specimens are shown
in Fig. 1. The U-shaped notches were made through EDM
(Electric Discharge Machining). The width of the slot in
the specimen is 0.2 mm. One side of the specimen was pol-
ished to facilitate the observation of the crack growth
using an optical microscope with a magnification of 40.
The loading conditions included constant amplitude load-
ing with R-ratios ranging from 1 to 0.85 and two-step
high–low sequence loading. Detailed description of the
experiments and the results were reported in a separated
presentation. Fig. 5 shows the experimental results under
constant amplitude loading with different R-ratios. Ten
specimens were subjected to constant amplitude loading
with different loading amplitudes and six R-ratios. Clearly,
the R-ratio has an effect on the crack growth of the mate-
rial. The notch effect is reflected in the crack growth results
presented in Fig. 5. It can be found that, except in the case
of the specimen with a relatively large notch radius under
R = 1 loading, the notch effect on the crack growth is
not significant. For the R = 1 case (Specimen C24, notch
-2
10 Material: SS304L
Compact Specimens
Constant Amplitude Loading
da/dN, Crack Growth Rate, mm/cycle

-3
established through a numerical integration. 10
Simulations are also conducted for the high–low step
loading conditions. In a high–low step loading experiment,
an external load with higher loading amplitude is applied
until a crack length reaches a certain value. The amplitude R=0.1
-4 C01 ΔP/2=2.475kN
of the external load is switched to a lower value in the sec- 10 C06 ΔP/2=1.8kN
ond loading step. In the simulations for the high–low load- R=0.2
ing sequence, one special consideration is made. The C20 ΔP/2=2.0kN
R=0.5
memory stress, rmr, in Eq. (1) is kept the same before and C02 ΔP/2=1.75kN
immediately after the change of the external load from a C17 ΔP/2=1.8kN
R=0.75
higher amplitude to a lower amplitude. After an extension 10
-5
C03 ΔP/2=1.0kN
of the crack in the second loading step, the memory stress C18 ΔP/2=0.95kN
returns to that under the lower constant amplitude loading. R=0.85
C16 ΔP/2=0.54kN
R=-1
C14 ΔP/2=5.0kN
3. Results and discussion -6 C24 ΔP/2=3.2kN
10
4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 6 7 2 3 4
1 2
3.1. Crack growth experiments 10 10 1/2
ΔK, Stress Intensity Factor Range, MPa m
The material under consideration in the present study is Fig. 5. Experimental crack growth results under constant amplitude
AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel which belongs to the loading.
 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973 967

radius is 1.0 mm), short-crack like phenomenon was -2

10
observed. Material: SS304L

da/dN, Crack Growth Rate, (mm/cycle)

3.2. Constant amplitude loading
-3
10
The primary results obtained from using the fatigue ap- notch
proach presented in the current investigation is the crack influencing
growth rate as a function of the crack length from the zone:
-4 0.4mm
notch root for a given loading condition. However, the tra- 10
ditional way to present the crack growth results in da/dN- Specimen C01
R=0.1, ΔP/2=2.475kN
DK, where DK is the stress intensity factor range, is an= -1.34mm
adopted, considering the general familiarity of the tradi- -5 Notch Radius=0.1mm
10
tional presentation of the crack growth results.
Comparisons of the experimental crack growth results
Experiment
with the predictions are shown in Fig. 6 for the constant Prediction
amplitude cases. The markers in the figure denote the -6
10
experimentally obtained crack growth results and the lines
0 5 10 15
are the predictions. A general good agreement can be
a, Crack Length from Notch Root, (mm)
found between the predictions and the experimental
observations. It should be reiterated that all of the speci- Fig. 7. Notch effect for specimen C01.
mens were subjected to constant amplitude loading with-
out a pre-crack except for specimens C16 and C14, to
which pre-cracking was applied (refer to Fig. 5 for the an = 1.34 mm) in terms of the crack growth rate versus
specimen numbers). Therefore, the results shown in the crack length measured from the notch root. The size
Fig. 6 include the effect of the notch on early crack growth. of the notch influencing zone is predicted to be 0.4 mm.
The notch effect is dependent on the notch size. A larger
effect is expected if the notch size is larger. Since all of the 3.3. High–low sequence loading
specimens except Specimen C20 (R = 0.2, DP/2 = 2.0 kN,
notch radius = 2.0 mm) and Specimen C24 (R = 1, DP/ The results of experiments involving two-step high–low
2 = 3.2 kN, notch radius = 1.0 mm) had small notch sizes loading sequence are shown in Fig. 8 and are displayed as a
with the notch radius being 0.1 mm, the notch effect is function of the crack length measured from the notch root.
not significant. Fig. 7 shows the results for Specimen C01 The markers in the figure represent the experimental data
(R = 0.1, DP/2 = 2.475 kN, and the notch depth and solid lines represent the predicted crack growth rate

-2 -2
10 Material: SS304L
10
Material: SS304L
Compact Specimens Compact Specimens
Constant Amplitude Loading Constant Amplitude Loading
da/dN, Crack Growth Rate, mm/cycle

da/dN, Crack Growth Rate, mm/cycle

-3 -3
10 10

-4 R=0.1 -4 R=0.1
10 10
ΔP/2=2.475kN ΔP/2=1.8kN
Prediction Prediction
R=0.2 R=0.5
ΔP/2=2.0kN ΔP/2=1.8kN
Prediction Prediction
R=0.5 R=0.75
-5 ΔP/2=1.75kN -5 ΔP/2=0.95kN
10 Prediction 10 Prediction
R=0.75 R=0.85
ΔP/2=1.0kN ΔP/2=0.54kN
Prediction Prediction
R=-1 R=-1
ΔP/2=5.0kN ΔP/2=3.2kN
Prediction Prediction
-6 -6
10 10
4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 6 7 2 4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 6 7 2
1 2 1 2
10 10 1/2 10 10 1/2
ΔK, Stress Intensity Factor Range, MPa m ΔK, Stress Intensity Factor Range, MPa m

Fig. 6. R-ratio effect on crack propagation under constant amplitude loading.

968 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973

-3 -3
10 8 Material: SS304L 10 8 Material: SS304L
6 Specimen C07 6 Specimen C08
High-low Sequence Loading High-low Sequence Loading
4 4
da/dN, Crack Growth Rate, mm/cycle

Crack Growth Rate, mm/cycle

2 2

-4 -4
10 8
10 8
6 6
4 4

2 2

-5 -5
10 step1: step2: 10
8 Pmax=6.0kN Pmax=6.0kN 8
6 6
Pmin=0.6kN Pmin=2.4kN
4 4
step1: step2:
Pmax=6.0kN Pmax=4.2kN
2 2 Experiment
Experiment Pmin=0.6kN Pmin=0.6kN
Prediction Prediction
-6 -6
10 10
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
a, Crack Length from the Notch Root, mm Crack Length from the Notch Root, mm

-3
10 8 Material: SS304L
6 Specimen C19
High-low Sequence Loading
4
da/dN, Crack Growth Rate, mm/cycle

-4
10 8
6
4

-5
10 8
6
4
step1: step2:
2 Pmax=6.0kN Pmax=4.0kN
Pmin=0.4kN Experiment
Pmin=0.6kN
-6 Prediction
10
0 5 10 15
a, Crack Length from the Notch Root, mm
Fig. 8. Two-step high–low loading sequence effect on crack propagation: (a) identical maximum load, (b) identical minimum load, (c) identical R-ratio.

based on the current approach. The experiments were de- has little influence on the subsequent crack growth in the
signed in the following way. One of the tests was con- second (lower amplitude) step. However, in other two cases
ducted with the maximum load being the same in both (Fig. 8(b) and (c)), a significant crack growth retardation can
high and low steps (Fig. 8(a)). The second test was done be observed at the beginning of the low amplitude block of
with the minimum load being held the same in both steps the experiment. It can be seen from Fig. 8 that the predic-
(Fig. 8(b)). The third specimen was tested under the condi- tions of the crack growth for the two-step loading agree
tion that the R-ratio was kept constant throughout the well with the experimental observations and capture crack
experiment (Fig. 8(c)). growth behavior in all the three cases described above.
The results shown in Fig. 8 demonstrate that the crack
growth behavior under high–low loading depends on the 3.4. Life prediction
loading conditions in the lower amplitude loading step.
When the experiment is performed with the same maxi- An appropriate approach should be able to predict the
mum load in both steps, the first (higher amplitude) step relationship between the crack length, a, and the number

of loading cycles, N. Fig. 9 shows a comparison of the
experimentally obtained a  N results and the predictions
obtained from using the fatigue approach. The predicted
fatigue life for a given crack length is obtained using the
following equation,
Z a1
da
N ¼ Ni þ ; ð7Þ
0 f ðaÞ
where N is the number of loading cycle corresponding a
crack length of a, and Ni is the crack initiation life predicted
for the specimen by using Eq. (5). f(a) is the crack growth
rate as a function of the crack length predicted by using
the approach. Eq. (7) is integrated numerically and is appli-
cable after crack initiation. An overall good correlation be-
tween the experiments and the predictions can be
observed from the results shown in Fig. 9.
Another way to evaluate the approach for the capability
to predict fatigue life is to compare the crack initiation life
and the fatigue failure life of the specimen with those ob-
served experimentally. As was mentioned in an early sec-
tion, the crack initiation used in the current study is
different from the traditionally used concept. The current
definition of the initiation life is a mathematic concept
since it is very difficult to experimentally identify the exact
moment of crack initiation. However, a practical pseudo
crack initiation life can be used to check the capability of
the models. The pseudo crack initiation can be defined as
the fatigue life corresponding to a small crack length. In
the current study, a crack length of 0.5 mm from the notch
root (refer to Fig. 1) is chosen as the ‘‘pseudo crack initia-
tion.” A crack length of 10 mm measured from the line of
action of the externally applied load is used for fatigue fail-
ure. In other words, two fatigue lives with an order of dif-
ference in the crack length are used to check the capability
of the models in predicting the fatigue life.
Fig. 10 shows the comparison of the predicted fatigue
lives and the experimentally measured fatigue lives when
the crack lengths are 0.5 mm (N0.5) and 10 mm (N10.0).
The vertical axis is for the observed fatigue life and the hor-
15
R=0.1
ΔP/2=2.475kN
Experiment
Prediction
R=0.2
ΔP/2=2.0kN
Crack Length, mm
10 Experiment
Prediction
R=0.85
ΔP/2=2.0kN
Experiment
Prediction
5 added in order to consider such factors as the notch effect,
0 fitting technique instead of predictions. The current ap-
3 4 5 6
10 10 10
Number of Cycles, cycle
Fig. 9. Crack length versus number of loading cycle.
F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973 969
7
10
Material: SS304L
10
6
Observed Life, cycles
5
10
4
10
N0.5
N10.0
3
10
3 4 5 6 7
10 10 10 10 10
Predicted Life, cycles
Fig. 10. Comparison of experimental fatigue life with prediction.
izontal axis is for the predicted fatigue life. Logarithmic
scales are used for both axes. The open circles are for the
‘‘pseudo crack initiation” (when the crack length measured
from the notch root is 0.5 mm) and the solid markers are
the ‘‘fatigue failure” lives corresponding to a crack length
of 10 mm from the line of action of the externally applied
force. The thick solid diagonal line signifies a perfect pre-
diction and the two dashed lines are the factor-of-two
boundaries. Almost all the results are within the factor-
of-two boundaries, signifying a very reasonable prediction.
4. Further discussion
The approach used in the current investigation for the
crack growth prediction is fundamentally different from
the commonly used methods where a stress intensity fac-
tor or J-integral is used. There are three major features that
distinguish the current approach from the traditional
Material: SS304L methods. The stress intensity factor was developed to
avoid the stress and strain singularity of the material at
the crack tip. The stress intensity factor is based on the
elastic deformation concept and it is a bulk measure of
the stressing severity of the material near the crack tip
upon the application of the external loading. It has been
well known that while the stress intensity factor can be
used to deal with the cases with constant amplitude load-
ing, modifications and additional coefficients have to be
the R-ratio effect, and effects of variable amplitude loading.
As a result, many constants are introduced and they are
determined by best fitting the experimentally obtained
crack growth data. The methods tend to become a curve
7 proach attempts to use the local stress and strain directly
10 10
for the fatigue damage assessment. Therefore, no crack
growth experimental data is used for the determination
of the material constants in the models.
970 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973

Traditionally, crack initiation is modeled using the con- 1000 Material: SS304L
tinuum mechanics method where stress and strain are Specimen C19
High Step
used to access fatigue damage. A separate model, often R=0.1, ΔP/2=2.70kN
500 σyy
based on the stress intensity factor concept, is needed to a=4.6mm

deal with the crack growth. In order to use the fracture

mechanics approach for the crack growth prediction, an
initial crack length or an initiation crack length must be de-
fined. Since the predicted crack propagation life is very
sensitive to the initial crack length, the definition of the
crack initiation size is more to fit the experimental data
than to have a physical base, or rather, the initial crack size
characterizing crack initiation in the traditional methods is
a fitting constant. Within the fatigue approach discussed in
the current investigation, the integrated consideration of
the crack initiation and crack growth is employed. One sin-
gle fatigue criterion is used for both crack initiation and
crack propagation. The unified consideration allows for a
seamless transition from crack initiation to crack growth
without necessity to define a crack initiation size.
For the prediction of crack growth, a separate criterion
is generally needed for the determination of the crack
growth direction. For example, a minimum strain energy
density factor theory (Sih and Barthelemy, 1980; Sih and
Bowie, 1992; Badaliance, 1980) specifies that the fatigue
crack growth rate is related to the range of the strain en-
ergy density but the crack growth direction is determined
by the minimum strain energy density factor with respect
to the orientation of the material plane in a loading cycle.
Within the maximum tangential stress approach, the crack
growth rate is assumed to be related to an effective stress
intensity factor range while the crack growth direction is
determined by using a maximum tangential stress crite-
rion (Tian et al., 1982). By using the critical plane multiax-
ial fatigue criterion, Eq. (1), the current approach predicts
the crack growth rate and the crack growth direction in
an integrated manner. The fatigue criterion determines
the critical plane where the cracking surface is to be
formed and the stress and strain quantities on the critical
plane determine the crack growth rate. The approach was
used to predict with success the cracking direction under
a loading condition involving a change in loading direc-
tions (Ding et al., 2007b).
While the overall predictions of the crack ‘‘initiation”
and crack growth are in general and reasonable agreement
with the experimental observations, the predicted results
are not as satisfactory as those using 1070 steel (Ding
et al., 2007a,b; Feng et al., 2005; Jiang and Feng, 2004a;
σyy, MPa
0 σxx
-500
-1000
-1000 -500 0 500 1000
σxx, MPa
Fig. 11. Stress state in the material near the crack tip.
the response of the two normal stresses at the Gauss point
closest to the crack tip for a loading cycle. The loading con-
dition is R = 0.1 and DP/2 = 2.7 kN. For the plane-stress
condition, the material point under consideration has a
minimal shear stress. It can be seen in Fig. 11 that the
two normal stress components are practically propor-
tional. It is further confirmed that for Mode I loading the
results obtained from considering the non-proportional
hardening are practically the same as those without con-
sidering the non-proportional hardening in the finite ele-
ment analysis.
The exclusion of the cyclic hardening/softening in the
constitutive modeling of the cyclic plastic deformation of
stainless steel 304L contributes to the discrepancy be-
tween the experimentally observed fatigue behavior and
the predictions for the notched member under consider-
ation. Fig. 12 shows the variation of the stress amplitude
with the number of loading cycles for a smooth specimen
subjected to strain-controlled constant amplitude loading.
From Fig. 12 it can be seen that the material experiences a
period of cyclic softening followed by cyclic hardening. In
other words, the stress response of the stainless steel
304L never becomes stabilized. Cyclic hardening/softening
is very difficult to model accurately. In the deformation
analysis particularly with the FE analysis, the transient
cyclic hardening/softening is always ignored.
Another difference between the real cyclic plastic defor-
mation and the model simulation is the ignorance of the
Δσ/2, Axial Stress Amplitude, MPa

700 Tension-Compression
Jiang, Ding, and Feng, 2007). The major reason is the less
Δε/2=1.0%
accurate description of the cyclic plastic deformation of 600
the SS304L than that for 1070 steel. 1070 steel displays
0.6%
very stable stress–strain response with practically no cyc- 500
0.4%
lic hardening/softening or non-proportional hardening. 0.28%
400 0.32%
The material under consideration exhibits significant 0.25%
non-proportional hardening and cyclic hardening/soften- 300
ing. The simple version of the cyclic plasticity model listed
200
in Table 1 does not consider cyclic hardening/softening or
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
the non-proportional hardening. 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
It is found that while the material displays significant N, Number of Cycles
non-proportional hardening and the stress state is multi- Fig. 12. Stress amplitude variation with the loading cycles under strain-
axial in the material near the crack tip, the loading is prac- controlled constant amplitude loading showing significant cyclic hard-
tically proportional for Mode I crack growth. Fig. 11 shows ening/softening.
 F. Fan et al. / Mechanics of Materials 40 (2008) 961–973
1400 Material: AISI 304L
1200
Δσ, Stress Range
1000
800
600
Δε/2 = 0.4% 0.8% 1.0%
400
200
0 the mesh size is extremely small for the material near
0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020
p
Δε , Plastic Strain Range
Fig. 13. Stabilized stress–plastic strain hysteresis loops with the lower
tips tied together.
non-Masing or strain-range effect on the cyclic plasticity in
the constitutive model. Most engineering materials display
non-Masing behavior, while the constitutive model listed
in Table 1 is based on Masing behavior. The stress-plastic
strain hysteresis loops shown in Fig. 13 were obtained
from the strain-controlled constant amplitude loading
experiments using dog-bone shaped smooth cylindrical
specimens. The stress-plastic strain loops shown in
Fig. 13 were taken at the number of cycles corresponding
to half of the fatigue life of the specimen. The loops were
tied together at the lower tips. If the material displays Mas-
ing behavior, all the upper branches of the hysteresis loops
shown in Fig. 13 should coincide. It is evident from Fig. 13
that stainless steel 304L displays non-Masing behavior or
strain range effect particularly when the loading amplitude
is large.
It is possible to include the non-Masing behavior, non-
proportional hardening, and cyclic hardening/softening in
the constitutive relations for cyclic plasticity. The inclusion
of all these considerations results in a very complicated
constitutive model. It is also required to implement the
model into an FE software package such as the UMAT in
ABAQUS. Furthermore, the consideration of all the cyclic
plasticity behavior will slow down the already slow elas-
tic–plastic FE stress analysis of a real component. Further
work is needed to properly consider the material deforma-
tion in the numerical stress analysis.
The approach by using the multiaxial fatigue criterion,
Eq. (1), does not need to define a loading cycle. However,
for all the experiments that were used, a loading cycle
can be easily defined. The only purpose to use the loading
cycle as a unit in fatigue damage accumulation was to
facilitate the presentation of the results.
When a cracked component is subjected to external
loading, the material near the crack tip always experiences
elastic–plastic deformation and both the stresses and the
strains at the crack tip are theoretically infinite if the mate-
rial displays strain hardening. Since a cracked component
can withstand a certain external load, the theoretical sin-
gular problem is caused by the basic assumption of a con-
tinuum for a material. The real stresses and strains in a
cracked component should be finite when the external
load is below a certain level. The FE methods average out
the stress and strain in the highly gradient area and it
may provide reasonable and realistic results to serve a gi-
971
ven purpose. It is found that the considerations of the
non-linear material deformation and the non-linear geom-
etry near the crack tip do not considerably influence the
stress–strain results near the crack tip for the crack growth
rate below the unstable crack growth region. However, the
1.5% stress and strain results near the crack tip obtained from
the elastic–plastic FE stress analysis of a cracked compo-
nent is sensitive to the FE size near the crack tip. When
0.025
the crack tip, the stresses and strains at the crack tip ob-
tained from the FE analysis will be unrealistically high,
which will result in a very high predicted crack growth
rate. The FE size near the crack tip is a ‘‘model” constant.
A preliminary study (Jiang and Feng, 2004b) reveals that
an appropriate element size is in the order of one to three
times the average grain size of the polycrystalline material.
Within such an element size range, the fatigue results ob-
tained from using the approach are not very sensitive to
the element size used near the crack tip. For the stainless
steel 304L under investigation, the average grain size is
approximately 20 lm. In the current FE simulations, the
smallest element size near the crack tip was 50 lm. Fur-
ther investigations are needed to explore the influence of
the element size and the element type on the simulation
results for the stresses and strains near the crack tip.
5. Conclusions
An approach was applied for the prediction of the fati-
gue behavior of notched members under constant-ampli-
tude loading and step loading. Elastic–plastic stress
analysis was conducted to determine the detailed stress
and strain in the notched and cracked component. The
application of a multiaxial fatigue criterion using the stress
and strain outputted from the numerical stress analysis re-
sulted in the prediction of the fatigue initiation and crack
growth rate. With the material constants determined so-
lely from testing the smooth specimens, the crack initia-
tion and the crack growth of a notched member can be
properly modeled.
Acknowledgements
The Office of Naval Research (N000140510777) spon-
sored this work. The views and conclusions contained
herein are those of the authors and should not be inter-
preted as necessarily representing the official policies or
endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the Office
of Naval Research, or the U.S. government.
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