Strain-life approach in thermo-mechanical fatigue evaluation of complex structures

This paper is a contribution to strain‐life approach evaluation of thermo‐mechanically loaded structures. It takes into consideration the uncoupling of stress and damage evaluation and has the option of importing non‐linear or linear stress results from finite element analysis (FEA). The multiaxiality is considered with the signed von Mises method. In the developed Damage Calculation Program (DCP) local temperature‐stress‐strain behaviour is modelled with an operator of the Prandtl type and damage is estimated by use of the strain‐life approach and Skelton's energy criterion. Material data were obtained from standard isothermal strain‐controlled low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests, with linear parameter interpolation or piecewise cubic Hermite interpolation being used to estimate values at unmeasured temperature points. The model is shown with examples of constant temperature loading and random force‐temperature history. Additional research was done regarding the temperature dependency of the K_p used in the Neuber approximate formula for stress‐strain estimation from linear FEA results. The proposed model enables computationally fast thermo‐mechanical fatigue (TMF) damage estimations for random load and temperature histories.