Fatigue life prediction under cyclic thermal loads using the boundary elements method for two-dimensional problems

This study describes a sub-domain boundary element procedure for predicting the fatigue life of elastic media under cyclic transient thermal loads. The procedure assumes an initial crack in a two-dimensional medium, and evaluates the crack extension along a path defined by the maximum circumferential stress criterion. Partial closure may occur on the growing crack faces due to thermal loading. Appropriate thermal and mechanical boundary conditions are imposed on the numerical model to account for the contact state. The analysis requires solutions to the equations of quasi-static thermo-elasticity, and uses an iterative procedure to detect the contact region. We investigate cases of pure opening or mixed mode fracture, demonstrating the effects of crack closure on the predicted fatigue life. We compare the obtained results with those of other publications.