Outline of Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics

Fatigue is a branch of research comprised of many disciplines, requiring a broad knowledge not only of elastic mechanics, plastic mechanics, fracture mechanics, vibration, and stress analysis, but also mathematics, metallurgy, machinery, metal physics, and other inextricably linked disciplines. It includes fields of research in the microscopic range, macroscopic modelling, mechanics, and theory and analysis of experimental science. This chapter briefly introduces some of the basic knowledge that is often used in anti-fatigue design and analysis of aircraft structures.