A State-Based Peridynamic Flexural Fatigue Model for Contact and Bending Conditions

To address flexural fractures and predict fatigue life, an ordinary state-based peridynamic (PD) fatigue model is proposed for the initiation and propagation of flexural fractures. The key to this model is to replace the traditional partial differential fracture model with a spatially integral peridynamic model. Based on the contact and slip theory, the nonlocal peridynamic contact algorithm is confirmed and the load transfer is through the contact area. With the 3D peridynamic J-integration and the energy-based bond failure criterion, the peridynamic fatigue model for flexural cracks’ initiation and propagation is constructed. The peridynamic solid consists of a pair of gear contact surfaces and the formation and growth of flexural fatigue cracks evolved naturally over many loading cycles. The repeated load is transferred from the drive gear to the follower gear using the nonlocal peridynamic contact algorithm. The improved adaptive dynamic relaxation approach is used to determine the static solution for each load cycle. The fatigue bending crack angle errors are within 2.92% and the cycle number errors are within 10%. According to the experimental results, the proposed peridynamic fatigue model accurately predicts the location of the crack without the need for additional criteria and the fatigue life predicted by the simulation agrees quite well with the experimental results.