Application of an energy model for fatigue life prediction of construction steels under bending, torsion and synchronous bending and torsion

Abstract The paper contains a mathematical model of the material’s behaviour under cyclic loading taking into account the dynamics of the fatigue process, including the number of cycles to failure, induced by the mean stress value. The coefficients in the proposed model have been obtained from experimental tests under symmetrical and nonsymmetrical loading (with the stress ratio R =0). The proposed model has been used in order to modify an energy criterion with the aim of accounting for the influence of the mean stress on the fatigue life. The fatigue tests have been performed for structural steels 10HNAP and 18G2A subjected to cyclic bending, torsion and synchronous bending with torsion, by considering different values of the mean stress. A good agreement between the calculated and experimental results has been obtained.