On the design and test of equivalent configurations for notch and fretting fatigue

This work investigates the possibility of designing fretting and notch fatigue experiments that are nominally equivalent in terms of damage evaluated by a multiaxial fatigue model. The methodology adopted to carry out this search considered a cylinder-on-flat contact geometry and a V-notched plate. The loading conditions and geometries of the experimental configurations were adjusted to obtain the same decay of the multiaxial fatigue index from the hot spot up to a critical distance. Aluminium alloy 7050-T7451 was used in the experimental evaluation of the methodology. Considering the well-known scatter of fatigue data and the limited number of specimens available, the obtained results suggest that the use of the notch analogy in fretting fatigue is appropriate.