The minimum shear stress range criterion and its application to crack orientation prediction in incomplete contact fretting problems

A proper prediction of crack paths is required when assessing accurately the fatigue crack propagation life. Recently, some authors have pointed out that the criterion of minimum shear stress range leads to inconsistent results when predicting fretting crack paths under incomplete contacts. In this paper, different fretting experiments with cylinder-to-flat contact found in the literature are reviewed, and the corresponding crack path prediction using the extended finite element method and the minimum shear stress range crack orientation criterion is performed. Results show the applicability of the criterion to predict the crack orientation during stage II in incomplete contact fretting problems.