Entropy-based damage model for assessing the remaining useful fatigue life

A reliable approach based on an entropy-damage model for assessing remaining useful fatigue life is presented. Two damage models are presented and evaluated to assess their effectiveness in predicting remaining useful life. The first model focuses on reduced toughness caused by fatigue degradation, while the second is based on accumulating entropy during fatigue loading. The entropy-based approach employs infrared thermography to anticipate entropy accumulation and damage status. Outcomes reveal that the entropy-driven technique offers enhanced precision. Moreover, its damage growth rate remains consistent, regardless of the number of cycles leading to failure, ensuring a more stable tracking of damage evolution. It successfully predicts the remaining useful life and can treat variable load sequencing without knowing the loading history. An extensive set of experimental results with carbon steel 1018 are presented to illustrate the utility of the approach.