Analysis of fatigue crack growth from notches under compressive loading

In present work crack growth from a notch root under compression-compression cyclic loading is investigated numerically. An improved elastic-plastic material model is used which enables one to obtain accurate results. Analyses of the stress and strain fields during the crack growth indicate that the notch root geometry has a dominant effect on the total extent of fracture, instead of the first compression cycle as previously thought. The crack opening and closing stresses are in agreement with the crack growth and its arrest mechanism.