The minimum shear stress range criterion and its application to crack orientation prediction in incomplete contact fretting problems

A proper prediction of crack paths is required when assessing accurately the fatigue crack propagation life. Recently, some authors have pointed out that the criterion of minimum shear stress range leads to inconsistent results when predicting fretting crack paths under incomplete contacts. In this paper, different fretting experiments with cylinder-to-flat contact found in the literature are reviewed, and the corresponding crack path prediction using the extended finite element method and the minimum shear stress range crack orientation criterion is performed. Results show the applicability of the criterion to predict the crack orientation during stage II in incomplete contact fretting problems.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support given by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the FEDER program through the project DPI2017-89197-C2-1-R, DPI2017-89197-C2-2-R and DPI2014-56137-C2-2-R and the FPI subprogram associated to the project with the reference BES-2015–072070. The support of the Generalitat Valenciana, Programme PROMETEO 2016/007, is also acknowledged. The financial support given by the Eusko Jaurlaritza under “Programa de apoyo a la investigación colaborativa en áreas estratégicas” (Project MEDECA: Ref. KK-2017/00053, and MEDECA2: Ref. KK-2018/00013) programs is also acknowledgedPublicad