International Journal of Fatigue 140 (2020) 105816

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Fretting fatigue of 7050-T7451 Al alloy: the influence of bulk mean stress T

a,⁎ a b
Sabrina Vantadori , Andrea Zanichelli , Josè Alexander Araújo
a
Department of Engineering & Architecture, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brasilia, 70910-900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Fretting fatigue is a combination of fatigue and micro-sliding due to fretting. The aim of the present work is to
Fretting fatigue estimate crack initiation direction, endurance strength and lifetime of aluminium 7050-T7451 alloy specimens.
Mean bulk stress The experimental campaign examined is devoted to investigate the role of the mean bulk stress on fretting
Non-proportional loading fatigue behaviour. The above estimations are performed by using the Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting
7050-T7451 Al alloy
fatigue. In such a context, the accuracy of the criterion is verified.

1. Introduction intensive research on fretting fatigue problems [6–15]. More precisely,

Fretting or fretting wear [1] occurs whenever two surfaces, subject
to a mechanical vibration, are clamped against each other, i.e. there is
no nominal displacement between them [2]. This vibration results in a
relative micro-sliding of the two contact bodies, generally of the order
of a few tens of microns.
Fretting fatigue is a combination of fatigue, due to a cyclic bulk
stress, and micro-sliding, due to fretting. Therefore, fretting fatigue
failure in a component results from cracks initiation and propagation,
under the combined action of two factors: (i) the contact stresses,
arising from the relative sliding between the surfaces of the two
clamped bodies (cracks initiation), and (ii) cyclic bulk stress on the
component (cracks propagation) [3,4].
Contact stresses, resulting from fretting, may dramatically reduce
the fatigue strength of a component, comparing to the same component
subject to only cyclic bulk stress. Therefore, despite of on-going re-
search of fretting fatigue, lifetime estimation under such a loading
condition continues being a challenge. In this setting, a brief review of
some of the most recent works in this field, available in the literature, is
here presented.
Araújo et al. [5] experimentally and numerically investigated crack
initiation life of mechanical assemblies under fretting fatigue load. A
critical plane-based criterion, coupled with a critical distance varying
with fatigue life, was used, by also exploiting a FE model that in-
corporated wear. Such a fatigue life estimation approach was applied to
simulate fretting fatigue tests, performed both on AA1350-H19 and
AA6201-T81 wire on wire contact, where wires were taken from
overhead conductors. The approach showed reasonably accurate esti-
mation of fretting fatigue life in medium-high cycle regime. For a long
time, the Authors concerning to the University of Brasilia carry out an
the research was devoted to investigate the possibility to design fretting
and notch fatigue experiments by a multiaxial fatigue model (being
nominally equivalent in terms of damage evaluated) [6], to estimate
crack path for cylindrical contacts under fretting conditions [7,8,11], to
analyse the effect of the catenary parameter on the fatigue life of
overhead conductors [9] and to study the influence of wear effects [12],
tangential load amplitude, mean bulk stress, pad radius [14], and phase
angle [15] on fretting behaviour. A review of short crack arrest models
together with the proposal of a new and more conclusive approach was
performed [10], and a fatigue life prediction model for two contacting
wires of an overhead conductor was developed [13].
Erena et al. [16] numerically analysed the beneficial influence of
different toroidal voids, located beneath the contact surface of a shaft in
a shrink-fit assembly, by varying their sizes and position, in terms of life
improvement of the shaft. Low, medium and high stress levels were
analysed. For high stress level, no improvement was observed, whereas
under both low and medium stress level a best configuration of voids, in
terms of their size and position, was found, leading to a rule thumb. The
researchers of the University of Seville are very active in the field of
fretting fatigue, and many works are available in the literature [17–25].
For instance, some of their research works were devoted to numerically
and analytically simulate the initial crack path [17,19,20,24,25], to
examine the influence that the type of geometry used to model a cy-
lindrical contact had on fretting fatigue life predictions [18], and to
analyse the beneficial effects on the fretting life by introducing voids
inside the material [21] and by using shot peening [25]. It should be
noticed that the experimental campaigns were performed with a device
designed by the Seville team [23].
Fouvry et al. [26] experimentally and numerically investigated
fretting fatigue crack propagation in aluminium strands. The numerical

⁎
Corresponding author.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2020.105816
Received 15 May 2020; Received in revised form 2 July 2020; Accepted 2 July 2020
Available online 06 July 2020
0142-1123/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Vantadori, et al.
Nomenclature
a theoretical Hertzian contact half-width
d average grain size
E Young modulus
slope of the S-N curve under fully reversed normal stress
m* slope of the S-N curve under fully reversed shear stress
Na normal stress amplitude
Nm mean value of the normal stress
Neq, a equivalent normal stress amplitude
N̄a averaged value of Na
N̄m averaged value of Nm
P normal force
Q cyclic tangential load
Qa amplitude of the cyclic tangential load
R pad radius
methodology proposed was based on the observation that the presence
of nucleated cracks in an aluminium-aluminium strand contact under
fretting fatigue did not guarantee the total life under some multiaxial
loadings. A stress-intensity factor criterion was proposed in order to
simulate the crack arrest phenomenon. The obtained results showed
that even in fully compressive state, cracks were able to propagate up to
a certain extent, and a Mode II threshold was proposed. The colleagues
at the University of Lyon working on fretting fatigue have published
many works on this topic [27–33]. To mention just a few, the research
was devoted to experimentally and numerically develop approaches to
follow cracking damage [27,29], also by employing non-local ap-
proaches that exploited the critical distance method [28], short crack
behaviour [31], and the effect of debris layer [32]. Multi-scale analysis
was considered [33] to estimate fretting fatigue cracking risk along the
conductor-clamp assembly, and a new non-collinear fretting-fatigue set-
up was developed [30].
Infante-Garcia et al. [34] numerically analysed cylinder-to-flat ex-
perimental tests available in the literature in order to simulate the
corresponding crack path by using both the extended finite element
method and the minimum shear stress range crack orientation criterion.
A good agreement between the experimental data and the numerical
results was shown. Other papers of the Authors on fretting fatigue
phenomenon are available in the literature [35–39]. More precisely,
their research was devoted to numerically simulate experimental data
available in the literature by using the extended finite element method
(X-FEM) together with crack orientation criteria [35,37], to investigate
the most relevant factors that affect the crack orientation during the
propagation stage [38], and to analyse the influence of micro-voids on
damage severity [39,36].
More recently, Nowell et al. [40] considered fretting fatigue ex-
perimental data available in the literature, in order to build an Artificial
Neural Network aimed to estimate life. Such a machine learning ap-
proach was found to be very effective to classify the above data into low
life and run-out groups, highlighting that the contact size was the main
input parameter of the network. Nowell and Hills have provided many
important contributions in this field [1,4,40–43].
Carpinteri et al. recently proposed a novel analytical methodology
(named in the following Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting fatigue) to
estimate both crack initiation direction and lifetime of metallic struc-
tural components under fretting fatigue. The criterion, originally for-
mulated for smooth specimens under high-cycle fatigue, was extended
for the case of fretting fatigue problems, by exploiting a new method to
determine the orientation of the critical plane, being this method sui-
table to take into account the high stress gradients near the contact
surface. In such a context, the critical plane is assumed coinciding with
the crack initiation direction.
2
International Journal of Fatigue 140 (2020) 105816
t time
T period
orientation of a critical plane candidate
cr orientation of the critical plane
µ friction coefficient
Poisson ratio
af , 1 material fatigue strength under fully reversed normal
loading at a reference number N0 of loading cycles
B axial bulk stress
B, a axial bulk stress amplitude
B, m axial bulk stress mean value
u ultimate tensile strength
1, 2, 3 principal stresses
af , 1 material fatigue strength under fully reversed shear
loading at a reference number N0 of loading cycles
The accuracy of the criterion for fretting fatigue was evaluated by
considering data available in the literature, and more precisely: me-
chanical assemblies, made of 7075-T651 Al [24,44], and a pressure
armour in an unbonded flexible riser [45]. However, also the influence
of shot-peening on lifetime of 7075-T651 Al specimens have been re-
cently investigated [46].
The aim of the present work is to estimate crack initiation direction,
endurance strength and lifetime of specimens, made of an aluminium
7050-T7451 alloy, subject to both fretting and a cyclic bulk stress
characterised by a mean value different from zero [47], by applying the
Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting fatigue [24,44–46].
The application of such a criterion to fretting fatigue data, char-
acterised by a bulk stress with a mean value different from zero, re-
presents the main novelty of the paper.
The paper is structured as follows. In Section 2 fretting fatigue tests
here examined are presented. Section 3 is dedicated to the presentation
of the Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting fatigue. Results are shown in
Section 4, and a discussion is then performed. Finally, conclusions are
summarised in Section 5.
2. Fretting fatigue tests examined
The experimental campaign carried out at the University of Brasilia
by the last author of the present paper and his research group is here-
after summarised [47].
2.1. Fretting fatigue testing machine
Fretting apparatus was composed by two cylindrical pads (with a
radius of 70 mm and made of Al 7050-T7451 alloy) and a flat dog-bone
specimen, mounted on a MTS 810 servo-hydraulic testing machine
[47,48] (Fig. 1).
The main testing parameters were: the static normal load, P , the
cyclic tangential load, Q , and the cyclic bulk stress, B . The static
normal load was applied by hydraulic cylinders and measured by means
of two load washers mounted with the drawbars. The tangential loads
were produced by the fretting apparatus, that working as a spring re-
acted to P and B by means of the cyclic forces Q on the specimen,
whose values were computed by means of the forces registered by the
lower and upper load cells of the testing machine. The cyclic bulk stress
was applied by a hydraulic cylinder and measured by means of the
above load cells.
A pad alignment system was designed, which allowed a careful
control of the angular position of the pads. In order to check the
alignment between the pads and the specimen, a pressure sensitive film
was used. It was suitable for pressures ranging between 10 and 50 MPa.
S. Vantadori, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 140 (2020) 105816

Fig. 1. Assembly mounted on the MTS 810 servo-hydraulic testing machine.

2.2. Specimen: Material and geometry assuming a reference number of loading cycles, N0 = 107 , and listed in
Table 2. Even the slope of SN curves under fully reversed axial stress, m
The specimen and pads were made of Al 7050-T7451 alloy, whose ( mN = C ) and fully reversed shear stress m* ( m *N = C ) are com-
chemical composition is reported in Table 1, whereas the mechanical puted, and listed in Table 2.
properties are listed in Table 2, being E the elastic modulus, the The averaged grain size, d , measured according to the ASTM E
Poisson coefficient, and u the ultimate tensile strength [47]. 1382-97 standard [50], was equal to 5 µm. Fig. 2(a) shows the grain
A complete characterisation of the fatigue behaviour of the material texture, oriented in the direction of material rolling, as highlighted by
is available in the literature [49]. The axial fatigue strength coefficient the grains elongation in one direction, that is the lamination direction.
is equal to 603.0 MPa, whereas the axial fatigue strength exponent is The black points represented the intermetallic particles of both
equal to −0.0457. The shear fatigue strength coefficient is equal to Al7Cu2Fe and Mg2Si, typical of Al 7050-T7451 alloy. Fig. 2(b) shows
399.0 MPa, whereas the shear fatigue strength exponent is equal to the typical microstructure of crystallised regions of such an alloy, where
−0.0755. Therefore, the fatigue strength under fully reversed axial the small grains were produced by the thermal aging treatment, carried
stress, af , 1, and fully reversed shear stress, af , 1, are computed by out on the material after lamination. The crystallised regions were
large, light, and characterised by elongated areas (following the di-
rection of lamination) consisting of coarse grains, surrounded by dark
Table 1
areas consisting of fine grains.
Chemical composition of Al 7050-T7451 alloy (in wt%).
The specimen had a flat dog-bone shape, with a cross-section of
Zn Mg Cu Zr Fe Si Mn Cr Ti 13x13mm (Fig. 3).
Minimum 5.7 1.9 2.0 0.10 0.15 0.12 0.09 0.006 0.06
Maximum 6.7 2.6 2.6 0.16 – – – – –

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S. Vantadori, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 140 (2020) 105816

Table 2
Mechanical and fatigue properties of Al 7050-T7451 alloy.
Material E [GPa] y [MPa] u [MPa] af , 1[MPa] m af , 1 [MPa] m N0 [cycles]

7050-T7451 Al 73.4 0.33 453.8 513.3 279.54 21.88 112.21 13.25 107

Table 3
Loading conditions examined.
Test No. P [N] Qa [N] B, a [MPa] B, m [MPa] Nexp [cycles]

T1 8500 2125 92.7 15.0 164.662

T2 8500 2125 92.7 15.0 202.609
T3 8500 2125 92.7 0.0 198.686
T4 8500 2125 92.7 0.0 274.248
T5 8500 2125 92.7 −15.0 268.230
T6 8500 2125 92.7 −15.0 299.568
T7 8500 2125 92.7 −60.0 1.304.620
T8 8500 2125 92.7 −60.0 1.552.276
T9 8500 2125 92.7 −92.7 10.000.000*
T10 8500 2125 92.7 −145.0 10.000.000*

mean stress on contact problem. Next, the pads were aligned and the
static normal load, P , applied. Finally, a sinusoidal bulk stress with an
amplitude B, a ( B (t ) = B, m + B, a sen ( t ) ) was imposed to the spe-
cimen with a pulsation , and consequently, due to the fretting appa-
ratus, the specimen was subjected to a pair of cyclic tangential forces
with an amplitude Qa (Q (t ) = Qa sen ( t ) ).
The above testing parameters for the experimental campaign ex-
amined are listed in Table 3, where it can be observed that P , Qa , and
B, a were kept constant, whereas B, m was made to vary from tensile
values to compressive values.
Fatigue failure was defined as the complete fracture of the spe-
cimen, whereas run out was set at 107 loading cycles. In the last column
of Table 3 are listed the experimentally recorded lifetime for each
specimen. The number of loading cycles marked with “*” indicates that
the run-out was reached.

2.4. Post failure analysis

The post failure analysis was carried out to provide the main
characteristic of failure mode.
Fig. 4(a) presents the typical aspect of fracture surface, obtained by
using a scanning electron microscope. The specimen observed was the
No.T3 (P =8500 MPa, Qa =2125 N, B, a =97.2 MPa, B, m = 0.0 MPa).
Fig. 2. Aluminium 7050-T7451 alloy: (a) grain texture; (b) microstructure of
crystallised regions.
In Fig. 4(b) the stereo microscope image of the slip zone (after
debris removal) for specimen No. T9 is shown, highlighting a large
number of cracks. The same specimen was cut along its length in its
middle width. The obtained surface was observed by using an optical
microscope. The existence of multiple crack initiation sites was de-
tected, as reported in Fig. 4(c).

3. The Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting fatigue

According to the critical plane-based criterion proposed by

Carpinteri et al. [44–46], the fatigue endurance condition is quantified
Fig. 3. Geometry and sizes (in millimeters) of the flat dog-bone shape spe- as:
cimen.
2
2 af , 1
Neq,a + Ca2 af , 1
2.3. Loading conditions af , 1 (1)
where Neq, a is the equivalent normal stress amplitude given by:
The experimental tests were carried out in partial slip regime. The
coefficient of friction, µ , was equal to 0.54, measured according to the Nm
Neq, a = Na +
procedure detailed in Ref.[48]. af , 1
u (2)
Firstly, a mean bulk stress, B, m , was applied to the specimen and
then the pads were clamped, in order to avoid the influence of such a being Na and Nm the amplitude and the mean value of the normal stress
related to the critical plane. The amplitude of the shear stress lying on

4
S. Vantadori, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 140 (2020) 105816

Fig. 5. The concept of the critical direction (critical plane candidate).

1 2d
N¯a ( ) = Na (r , ) dr
2d 0 (5)
whereas Nm is replaced by its averaged value along the segment, and
named N̄m :
1 2d
N¯m ( ) = Nm (r , ) dr
2d 0 (6)
where r is a radial coordinate, starting from the point H and moving
along the segment (0 r 2d ), and is the orientation of the critical
plane candidate (Fig. 5).
Therefore, is made to vary from −90° to + 90° in order to de-
termine for which orientation, named cr , the following condition is
achieved:
Neq, a ( cr ) = max {Neq, a ( )}
90° 90° (7)
By replacing in Eq. (1) the fatigue strengths af , 1 and af , 1, referred
to N0 loading cycles, with the fatigue strengths at the fatigue finite life,
Ncal , the following equation is obtained by exploiting the Basquin ex-
pressions:
2 2
Fig. 4. (a) Fracture surface of the specimen No.T3; (b) stereo microscope image 2

{ }
2 m
Nm (2d, cr ) af , 1 Ncal N0 m C 2 (2d,
Na (2d, cr ) + af 1 + cr )
of the slip zone and (c) multiple crack origins for specimen No. T9. N0 Ncal a
u af , 1
1
Ncal m
= af , 1
the critical plane is computed according to the Maximum Rectangular
N0 (8)
Hull method [51,52]. Such stress quantities are computed on the cri- that, solved by an iterative procedure, provides the number of loading
tical plane, at a distance from the hot-spot equal to twice the averaged cycles to failure, Ncal .
grain size of the material. The critical plane determination is hereafter Therefore, it can be concluded that the Carpinteri et al. criterion for
detailed. fretting fatigue allows:
The hot-spot, named H in the following, is that point on the contact
surface characterised by the maximum value, registered during a (i) to estimate the crack initiation direction, assumed coincident with
loading cycle, of the maximum principal stress 1 (being 1 2 3 ), the orientation of the critical plane, by means of Eq. (7);
where the contact surface is defined by means of the theoretical (ii) to perform a fatigue endurance assessment, by means of Eq. (1);
Hertzian contact width 2a , given by: (iii) to estimate the number of loading cycles to failure, Ncal , by means
of Eq. (8).
16PR
2a =
E* (3)
4. Results and discussion
being:
Being the experimental tests here examined performed under partial
E
E* = slip regime (Q µP ), the stress field below the contact surface is
2(1 2)
(4)
evaluated, under linear elastic behaviour assumption, through the
The critical plane is determined by employing the Critical Direction closed-form analytical solution by Johnson [54]. For the above tests, H
method [53], implemented in the criterion algorithm. coincides with the trailing edge. The angular increment, , used to
According to such a method, the critical plane passes through the determine the critical plane, is equal to 1°.
hot-spot and has a given physical size. More precisely, being the ex-
amined problem two-dimensional, the critical plane is a segment, that 4.1. Crack initiation direction
the method assumes with a length equal to 2d . The method identifies
the critical plane, within all planes belonging to the half-space (critical As previously mentioned the critical plane orientation, cr , is as-
plane candidates), as that maximising a fatigue parameter, computed sumed as the theoretical crack initiation direction. In Fig. 6, the graph
by employing averaged stress/strain quantities calculated along each of Neq, a against is shown for each test, by limiting the range be-
segment. tween ± 60°. The dashed line indicates the orientation cr . It can be
The fatigue parameter here maximised is Neq, a (given by Eq. (2)), noted that for each specimen cr = 2°.
where Na is replaced by its averaged value along the segment, and In Fig. 3, the experimental crack orientation directions are shown
named N̄a : for specimen No. T9. From such a picture an averaged value for such

5
S. Vantadori, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 140 (2020) 105816

Fig. 6. Neq, a vs by varying the mean value of the bulk stress, B,m .
Fig. 10. Experimental fretting fatigue life vs. estimated one for tests No. from
T1 to T8.

Fig. 7. Shear stress amplitude against equivalent normal stress amplitude:

theoretical evaluation according to the Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting
Fig. 11. Theoretical evaluation of the mean bulk stress value in correspondence
fatigue and experimental results [47].
of which run-out is reached.

directions can be computed: it is equal to about 18°. The comparison

with the theoretical results is quite difficult, because: (i) it can be
performed only relatively to a length of two times the averaged grain
size (corresponding to the length of the critical plane, 2d=10 µm), and
(ii) the experimental crack paths showed a changing in their direction,
even at a relatively small depth, whereas the criterion does not con-
template a direction changing for the critical plane.

4.2. Endurance assessment

The fatigue endurance condition, given by Eq. (1), is illustrated in a

Fig. 8. a against : theoretical evaluation according to the MWCM criterion
and experimental results [47].
Fig. 9. KI against b/ a : theoretical curves according to crack self-arrest cri-
terion [47].
Ca vs. Neq, a diagram, reported in Fig. 7.
Accordingly, each (Neq, a , Ca) point in this diagram represents the
stress level associated with a given experimental test, whereas Eq. (1)
defines an ellipse with semi-axes equal to af , 1 and af , 1. Fatigue
failure occurs if the (Neq, a , Ca) point lies out of the ellipse (failure do-
main), whereas the safe domain is located inside the ellipse. Note that,
being af , 1 and af , 1 referred to N0 loading cycles, for the data points
lying on the ellipse the experimental fatigue life should be equal to N0 ,
if the criterion perfectly estimates the experimental relevance.
By observing Fig. 7, it is worth noticing that Ca is the same for all
experimental tests. As a matter of fact, in all tests the mean bulk load
was applied before clamping the pads, generating an identical contact
problem. Since the material point where the endurance strength esti-
mation is performed is the same, and being for each specimen cr = 2°,
the value of Ca cannot vary.
The criterion estimates failure for the tests No. from T1 to T6, in
agreement with the experimental observations. On the other hand, the
experimental data points corresponding to the tests T9 and T10 fall
inside the elliptical domain, in agreement with the experimentally ob-
served run-outs. The data point corresponding to the tests No. T7 and

6
S. Vantadori, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 140 (2020) 105816

T8 should be located outside the elliptical domain, due to the fact that ln (Ncal ) = - 0.04128885066 · B, m + 12.34688426 (10)
failure happened for such tests. However, such a point is very close to
the value of B, m in correspondence of Ncal = cycles is equal to
107
the failure curve, that is to say the criterion does not estimate failure,
−91.34 MPa, that is in good agreement with the above experimental
but rather a condition of incipient failure.
range.
For the experimental campaign here examined, the criterion seems
to work better, or with the same accuracy, with respect to other esti-
5. Conclusions
mation methodologies available in the literature. More precisely: the
non-local stress-based criterion represented by the Modified Wöhler
It is well known that fretting fatigue represents an important issue
Curve Method (MWCM), applied at the centre of a structural volume
for mechanical industry. As a matter of fact, in mechanical components,
[55], and the Stress-Intensity Factor-based crack self-arrest criterion
under such a loading condition, crack initiation and propagation is
represented by the procedure originally proposed by Yates and Brown
greatly encouraged and may lead to failure.
[56], and extended to fretting fatigue problems in Refs. [57,58].
In the present paper the estimation of crack initiation direction,
The application of the MWCM provides the results shown in Fig. 8,
endurance strength, and lifetime of Al 7050-T7451 alloy specimens
where Kth is set equal to 2 MPa m1/2, where a is the shear stress
under partial slip fretting fatigue have been performed.
amplitude relative to the material plane experiencing the maximum
The criterion used is the Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting fa-
shear stress amplitude, whereas is the ratio between the maximum
tigue. More precisely:
normal stress perpendicular to such a plane and a .
It is worth noting that a is the same for all tests. The method esti-
(i) for the estimation of crack initiation direction, it has been assumed
mates failure for all tests examined: as a matter of fact all ( , a ) pairs lie
that such a direction coincided with that maximising a fatigue
above the failure line, and therefore the method is not able to estimate
parameter, own of the criterion;
the run-outs experimentally observed for the tests No. T9 and T10. In
(ii) for the estimation of endurance strength, the criterion has high-
this context, the Carpinteri et al. criterion for fretting fatigue works
lighted a sensible better accuracy with respect to another stress-
better with respect to MWCM.
based model, whereas the same accuracy with respect to a SIF-
The application of the crack self-arrest criterion provides the results
based model, although in this last case the criterion is less time-
shown in Fig. 9 (the long-crack fatigue threshold range of the material,
consuming;
Kth , is set equal to 2 MPa m1/2), where KI is the Mode I Stress-In-
(iii) for the estimation of fatigue life, the results obtained have been
tensity Factor range, whereas b/ a is the ratio between the crack length
satisfactory, falling into scatter band 2 and being the mean square
and the theoretical Hertzian contact semi-width.
error equal to 1.46.
The criterion estimates run-out for the tests No. T9 and T10, and
failure for tests No. from T1 to T6, in agreement with the experimental
However, it has been estimated the value of B, m that represents the
observations. For tests No. T7 and T8, cracks initiate but not grow,
limit between failure and run-out, and such a value, equal to
contrarily with that experimentally happened. In this context, the
−91.34 MPa, is in satisfactory agreement with the experimental ob-
Carpinteri et al. criterion provides results with the same accuracy of
servations.
that obtained by the crack self-arrest criterion, but it is less time-con-
suming.
Declaration of Competing Interest

4.3. Life estimation The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
The comparison between experimental and estimated fatigue life is ence the work reported in this paper.
shown in Fig. 10 from tests No. from T1 to T8, that is by excluding the
run-outs due to the fact that in such cases the experimental number of Acknowledgements
loading cycles to failure is unknown.
It can be observed that all results fall into scatter band 2 and The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the
therefore the estimations can be considered quite satisfactory, although Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR),
some of them are not conservative. Research Grant PRIN 2017 No. 2017HFPKZY on “Modelling of con-
In order to quantify the accuracy of the criterion, the mean square stitutive laws for traditional and innovative building materials”. J. A.
error, TRMS , is computed as [59]: Araújo is also grateful for the support provided by CNPq (contract
305302/2017-5).
8
i=1
log2 (Nexp/Ncal )i
TRMS = 10 ERMS with ERMS = References
8 (9)

Such a value is equal to 1.46, highlighting a quite good accuracy of
the criterion.
In order to theoretically determine the threshold value of B, m cor-
responding to run-out (assumed reached at 107 loading cycles), the
fatigue life for theoretically case studies is computed, by taking con-
stant the testing parameters: P = 8500N , Qa = 2125N , B, a = 92.7MPa ,
and by varying B, m alternatively equal to: ± 10, ± 20, ± 30, ± 40, ±
50, ± 60, ± 70, ± 80, ± 90, ± 100, ± 110, ± 120, and ± 130 MPa.
The obtained fatigue life values are plotted against B, m in Fig. 11. It
can be observed that a fatigue life of 107 loading cycles is achieved for a
value of 100 < B, m < 90 MPa . The experimental data indicated
that such a condition was somewhere in the range
92.7 B, m 60 MPa . Therefore, by fitting the theoretical data with
the exponential curve given by:
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