What is the Difference between Low & High Cycle Fatigue?
The difference between low cycle fatigue (LCF) and high cycle fatigue (HCF) has to do with the deformations. LCF is characterized by repeated plastic deformation (i.e. in each cycle), whereas…
Fatigue Crack in a Bicycle Frame
A friend of mine showed some time ago her bicycle to me and she asked if the crack in the seat tube would be a fatigue crack. Well, the answer…
Fatigue Analysis using Local Stresses (part 2)
In part 1 of this blogpost it was discussed that also for fatigue analysis using local stresses, the gradient of the S-N curve depends on the stress concentration.But also the…
Fatigue Analysis using Local Stresses (part 1)
The common approach for fatigue life analysis is using S-N curves based on nominal stresses (i.e. average stresses in the net section). Depending on the severity of the stress concentration…
Description of a S-N Curve
Fatigue properties of materials are often described using the fatigue limit or the S-N curve (fatigue curve, Wöhler curve). The S-N curve describes the relation between cyclic stress amplitude and…
What is Fatigue?
Metal fatigue is about the predominant cause of failure of structures. But what is fatigue? Fatigue occurs when a structure is subjected to cyclic loading. If the stress amplitude exceeds…