Measurement and simulation of crack growth rate and direction under non-proportional loadings

A series of fatigue experiments on thin-walled tubes under tension and torsion, the experimental results – crack path and crack growth life – are measured and compared. It is observed that the cracks follow a curvature from a tensile to a shear dominated growth with increasing crack length. The results are enforced by the high amplitudes applied to the specimens causing large cyclic plastic deformations and crack growth rates in the order of...