A new method for the quantification of nucleation of fretting fatigue cracks using asymptotic contact solutions

This paper introduces a recently developed family of local, self-contained contact solutions which can be used to compare rigorously the states of stress in the microslip region of a range of contacts. This provides (a) a rigorous means of designing experimental fretting fatigue test geometries to match those in complex prototypes rigorously, and (b) gives the possibility of developing a reliable database of generalszed stress intensity thresholds for design against crack nucleation.