Residual Stress Field Effect on Fatigue Crack Growth Direction

This study presents a novel approach to understanding fatigue and crack growth phenomena by benchmarking experimental observations with numerical simulations. We introduced controlled residual stress fields away from notch-induced crack nucleation sites and analyzed their interaction with crack nucleation and growth. Surprisingly, our findings revealed that the introduction of generally beneficial compressive residual stresses had a counter-intuitive negative impact on product fatigue life. Despite daunting challenges in applying classical fatigue principles to describe crack nucleation and growth, our numerical simulations provided valuable insights, capturing the trend of observed crack paths, albeit not their velocity. This research sheds light on the complex interplay between residual stresses and crack propagation, offering important considerations for fatigue analysis and product design.