AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ABOUT FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH RATE OF ALUMINUM ALLOY CONSIDERING VARIOUS MEAN STRESS

In general, aluminum alloy is a commonly used for liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage systems. In this regard, it is important to know exact mechanical properties at cryogenic temperature. There are many researches to assess mechanical properties of aluminum alloy, such as tensile strength, fatigue performance and fracture toughness. Fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) is important to predict the service life. In particular, mean stress effect can significantly affect the fatigue life. In this regard, this study carried out by a series of FCGR test at five different stress ratios (R=0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.85). The major objective of this paper is to suggest a new model that can consider the mean stress effect on FCGR of aluminum alloy in a unified manner. A mean stress equation is incorporated into Paris' law. In order to validate the model, FCGR test data of aluminum alloy is compared with Walker's relationship. Compared to the other existing model, the new model is found to exhibit more accurate result compared to Walker model.