An approach based on continuum damage mechanics to fatigue life prediction for structures is proposed. A new fatigue damage evolution equation is developed, in which the pa- rameters are obtained in a simple way with reference to the experimental results of fatigue tests on standard specimens. With the utilization of APDL language on the ANSYS platform, a finite element implementation is presented to perform coupling operation on damage evolution of mate- rial and stress redistribution. The fatigue lives of some notched specimens and a Pitch-change-link are predicted by using the above approach. The calculated results are validated with experimental data.
A new continuum damage mechanics model for fretting fatigue life prediction is established. In this model, the damage evolution rate is described by two kinds of quantities. One is associated with the cyclic stress characteristics obtained by the finite element （FE） analysis, and the other is associated with the material fatigue property identified from the fatigue test data of standard specimens. The wear is modeled by the energy wear law to simulate the contact geometry evolution. A two-dimensional （2D） plane strain FE implementation of the damage mechanics model and the energy wear model is presented in the platform of ABAQUS to simulate the evolutions of the fatigue damage and the wear scar. The effect of the specimen thickness is also investigated. The predicted results of the crack initiation site and the fretting fatigue life agree well with available experimental data. Comparisons are made with the critical plane Smith- Watson-Topper （SWT） method.
