Improved Data Processing of Loading Spectrum for Applications of Rainflow Counting Method

The rainflow counting method is a reasonable cyclecounting procedure for fatigue life calculation and simulation testing of structures.It defines cycles as closed stress /strain hysteresis loops.Application of the rainflow counting method requires a data processing of the loading spectrum,which consists of the elimination of non-peak value data points,load time histories adjustment and loop extraction.In the data processing of the loading spectrum,if a stress point is neither the peak nor the valley,it will be identified and eliminated from the loading spectrum.Generally,the loading process is idealized as a single peak-valley straight line.But in actually,there are polylines or nearly straight lines between peaks and valleys which can’t be ignored.Therefore,in the process of eliminating such data points,it will produce error in method itself.To reduce the error produced by the traditional method itself,a new method which can well simplify the polylines in data processing of loading spectrum is proposed in this paper.Comparing with the original approximation method,the proposed method has higher precision.