A new cohesive crack tip symplectic analytical singular element involving plastic zone length for fatigue crack growth prediction under variable amplitude cyclic loading

Modelling fatigue crack growth under variable amplitude cyclic loading (VACL) remains challenging in engineering due to multiple damage/failure mechanisms and the difficulties in capturing stress state around the crack tip. Previous efforts have been devoted to develop appropriate models in which the plastic zone length (PZL) in front of crack was involved. However, the PZL can not be calculated accurately by using the existing numerical...