An investigation of fatigue of a notched member

Based on the tension–compression, torsion, and axial-torsion fatigue experiments conducted on notched shaft specimens made of 16MnR steel, local stress fatigue life prediction approaches were evaluated. The cyclic elastic–plastic deformation of the material at the notch was analyzed using the finite element (FE) method and approximate methods. Two critical plane multiaxial fatigue criteria were used to predict the fatigue lives. The predicted fatigue lives based on the FE stress analysis agree well with the experimental observations and predictions made using the local stress–strain results obtained from the approximate methods do not agree well with the experimental results.