Assessment of the Sensitivity of Crack Growth Rate Constants to Predictive Accuracy of Part-Through Crack Fatigue Life Predictions

Fatigue crack life predictions were performed for specimens containing part-through cracks subjected to constant-amplitude loading. A computer routine, EFFGRO, was employed in the crack growth predictions. Three rounds of predictions were made by using different crack growth rate constants derived from the compact- type (CT) specimen da/dN versus ΔK data. The predictive accuracies of each round of predictions were assessed. The results show that accurate predictions of part-through crack fatigue lives using CT specimen crack growth rate data can be achieved if there are known part-through crack test data serving as guidelines.