A Reinterpretation of the Palmgren-Miner Rule for Fatigue Life Prediction

It is shown that the simple Palmgren-Miner linear cumulative damage rule is a special case of a general cumulative damage theory previously established. Predictions of lifetimes for families of multistage loadings according to the Palmgren-Miner rule and the general cumulative damage theory are compared with the aim of arriving at qualitative guidelines for applicability of the Palmgren-Miner rule in cyclic loading programs.