Analytical modeling of fatigue crack growth in plastically pre‐strained steels

Abstract Α fatigue crack growth analysis to simulate the effect of plastic pre‐straining on fatigue crack growth by taking into account the cyclic material properties is presented. A critical energy concept is implemented, which correlates the critical energy for failure under low cycle fatigue with the critical energy at the crack tip from the SED criterion, using an appropriate scaling factor. The fatigue damage process area controlling the crack increment is defined by the cyclic plastic zone. Analytical fatigue crack growth rates in plastically pre‐strained steels are verified and compared with experimental data in the S355MC and S460MC HSLA steels showing good agreement.