Abstract
The present authors proposed a method for predicting fatigue lives of a two-dimensional crack propagation in residual stress fields, by using crack propagation behavior expressed in terms of effective stress intensity range, and effective range ratio U expressed in terms of stress ratio. Extensions of the method to three-dimensional cracks have been made. In this paper, the method was applied to three-dimensional slant cracks, slant hole-corner cracks and slant corner crack propagating toward a hole using the finite element method. The amount and direction of crack extension were evaluated at each point of the crack front to simulate complex shape changes in the three-dimensional cracks. The effects of contact restraining stresses were examined based on predictions using the finite element simulations and their comparison with experiments.
