Fatigue analysis of materials and structures using a continuum damage model

The scatter in the fatigue life of the metallic structures seems to be mainly caused by internal defects of the material (porosity, inclusions as oxide films and carbon layers, grain boundaries, etc.). As discontinuities in geometry, defects cause stress concentration and are therefore prone to fatigue crack initiation. Here, a fatigue model based in continuum mechanic with its general expressions for the elasto-plastic-damage constitutive equations, previously developed by the authors, is extended to include the effects of material internal defects. In this stress life approach the material is considered to be non-homogenous. The material strength is randomly assigned and Stress-Nº of cycles curves are scaled down according to material strength of each point. Limit values for material strength are based on experimental tests of samples with different degree of porosity. &nbsp