Fretting fatigue test analysis of contacts

Fretting fatigue tests conducted by Nowell and Szolwinski are analysed accurately by introducing several modifications needed to the classical formulation. With the total state of stress established, the crack-tip stress intensity factor for a crack growing inward from the trailing edge of the contact is determined by the distributed dislocation technique. Finally, the results are correlated with local solutions for the contact stress field that enable an estimate of the crack nucleation life, and hence a characteristic material property quantifying initiation, to be found.