Cumulative fatigue damage and life prediction theories: a survey of the state of the art for homogeneous materials

Fatigue damage increases with applied load cycles in a cumulative manner. Cumulative fatigue damage analysis plays a key role in life prediction of components and structures subjected to field load histories. Since the introduction of damage accumulation concept by Palmgren about 70 years ago and ‘linear damage rule’ by Miner about 50 years ago, the treatment of cumulative fatigue damage has received increasingly more attention. As a result, many damage models have been developed. Even though early theories on cumulative fatigue damage have been reviewed by several researchers, no comprehensive report has appeared recently to review the considerable efforts made since the late 1970s. This article provides a comprehensive review of cumulative fatigue damage theories for metals and their alloys, emphasizing the approaches developed between the early 1970s to the early 1990s. These theories are grouped into six categories: linear damage rules; nonlinear damage curve and two-stage linearization approaches; life curve modification methods; approaches based on crack growth concepts; continuum damage mechanics models; and energy-based theories.