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Fatigue of Metals under Random Loads

Abstract

THE stresses produced in an aircraft structure during flight are of an irregular random nature, reflecting the characteristics of the source of the stresses, namely, atmospheric turbulence. It is often necessary to try to estimate the fatigue life of a structural member under these flight loads. Usually the only fatigue data available are from laboratory tests in which the applied stress is a constant-amplitude sine wave. Miner1 has suggested a procedure by which, knowing the fatigue life at various sine-wave amplitudes, the fatigue life under a given irregular loading may be calculated.

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References

  1. Miner, M. A., J. App. Mech., 12, 159 (1945).

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  2. Rice, S. O., Bell System Tech. J., 23, 282 (1944); 24, 46 (1945).

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HEAD, A., HOOKE, F. Fatigue of Metals under Random Loads. Nature 177, 1176–1177 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/1771176a0

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