Multiaxial Fatigue: A Survey of the State of the Art

Abstract This paper surveys the current state of knowledge concerning multiaxial fatigue. Developments are presented in chronological order and are discussed so as to supplement existing reviews in this field. Emphasis is placed primarily on the criteria or methods of evaluation of fatigue strength under general multiaxial loading at room temperature. The survey indicates that the early development of the criteria was based on extensions of static yield theories to fatigue under combined stresses. These are stress-based criteria limited primarily to high-cycle fatigue. Most of the later criteria are strain-based. These criteria fall into two broad groups: the equivalent stress or strain type and the critical plane type. Most of these criteria commonly lack considerations of the cyclic stress-strain response. Their application to nonproportional loading suffers from difficulties in implementation or from inconsistencies with results of experiments. Recent approaches fall in the category of continuous damage evaluation methods. At present, these appear to be abstract or difficult to implement. All the above criteria are critically examined and compared. With this background, a new plastic work approach, proposed by the author, is discussed briefly.