Fatigue & Fracture of

Engineering Materials & Structures

doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2695.2010.01521.x

Fatigue crack propagation in API 5L X-70 pipeline steel longitudinal

welded joints under constant and variable amplitudes
M . A . N E V E S B E L T R Ã O 1,2 , E . M . C A S T R O D E Z A 1 a n d F . L . B A S T I A N 1
1 Laboratory of Fracture Mechanics, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,
21941-972, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2 GKSS Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH, Institute of Materials Research, Materials Mechanics, Solid-State
Joining Processes (WMP), Max-Planck-Strasse 1, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany

Received in final form 24 August 2010

A B S T R A C T Fatigue crack propagation (FCP) under constant and variable amplitude loading in base
metal (BM), weld metal (WM) and heat affected zone (HAZ) of longitudinal welded
joints of an API X-70 pipeline steel was investigated. Constant amplitude loading tests
were performed at R = 0.1 and 0.5, whereas for variable amplitude testing single peak
tensile overloads (OLs) alternating between 75 and 100% of maximum load were applied
at 2.5 mm intervals in crack growth. Results of SE(B) specimens tested under constant
and variable amplitude loading revealed that BM, WM and HAZ regions subjected to R =
0.5 and low K-values presented the highest crack growth rates. At higher K values
FCP rates in all the studied regions were similar and the R effect on FCP rate was no
more observed. Crack growth retardation due to OLs was observed at the three studied
regions, showing a decrease on the FCP delay with a decreasing on K.

Keywords alternate tensile overloads; API 5L X-70 pipeline steel; fatigue crack propa-
gation; longitudinal welded joints.

NOMENCLATURE a = crack length (mm)

BM = base metal
C = constant of Paris equation
da/dN = fatigue crack propagation rate (mm/cycle)
FCP = fatigue crack propagation
HAZ = heat-affected zone
1
K max = maximum stress intensity factor (MPa.m 2 )
1
K min = minimum stress intensity factor (MPa.m 2 )
1
K OL = stress intensity factor at overload (MPa.m 2 )
1
K op = crack opening stress intensity factor (MPa.m 2 )
n = constant of Paris equation
N = number of cycles
OL = single peak tensile overload
R = stress ratio
r OL = monotonic plastic zone size (mm)
RS = reversed shear
SAW = submerged arc welding
SE(B) = three-point bending specimen
WM = weld metal
WM-L = tensile test specimen (longitudinal direction of weld)

Correspondence: M. A. Neves Beltrão. E-mail: marcelo.beltrao@gkss.de


c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328 321
322 M . A . N E V E S B E L T R Ã O et al.
WM-T = tensile test specimen (transversal direction of weld)
α = 1/3π or 1/π for plane strain or plane stress state, respectively
K = stress intensity factor range (MPa.m 2 )
σ ys = tensile yield strength (MPa)
σ u = ultimate tensile strength (MPa)
INTRODUCTION
Pipelines for oil and gas transportation are sometimes
exposed to cyclic loads that could cause their fracture.
Pipeline welded joints are regions where the initiation and
propagation of fatigue cracks has been observed, mainly
at stress concentration points like inclusions and weld
defects.
A large number of parameters affect fatigue life of a
structural component. An important one is the stress ratio
(R) defined by Eq. (1)
K min
R= , (1)
K max
where K min and K max are the minimum and maximum
stress intensity factor, respectively.
The influence of the stress ratio on fatigue crack propa-
gation (FCP) is shown by the increase of crack propaga-
tion rate when R-value is increased. However, this effect is
more pronounced at regions I and III of the Paris curve.
Concepts like residual compressive stress and environ-
mental effects have been developed to explain the stress
ratio effect on the FCP rate.1–3 However, after Elber’s
discovery, a great number of researches on stress ratio
effect have been based on the concept of crack closure.4
The types of load to which structural materials like
pipelines are exposed during operation vary with time. In
this sense, it is important to consider variable amplitude
loadings when studying fatigue behaviour of structural
materials because load variations can accelerate or delay
the FCP rate.5–10 Consequently, an accurate prediction
of fatigue life in these conditions is necessary. One of the
simplest forms of studying material behaviour under load
variations is through tensile overloads (OLs) application
within constant amplitude fatigue loading.
It has been well documented in literature that an OL
application during the crack propagation stage influences
the subsequent crack growth behaviour because a crack
propagation rate delay until a minimum da/dN value is
observed. Several works on literature5,10–15 reported that
the highest crack growth delays occurred when the highest
OL levels were applied.
When periodic overloads are applied within constant
amplitude loading intervals, OL interactions may occur.
Yuen and Taheri16 mention that if multiple tensile OLs
are applied too closely or frequently, the FCP delay can be
1
reduced or increased. On the other hand, Tür and Var-
dar17 and Singh et al.18 reported that overloads applied
too close lead to crack acceleration because crack jumps
at each overload exceed the retardation in the subsequent
few baseline cycles. According to Celik et al.,19 the severity
of retardation is a function of the overload peak proxim-
ity: overloads applied closely and separately sufficiently
are responsible for crack growth acceleration and retar-
dation, respectively. Several models have been proposed
to explain the FCP delay due the OLs, including models
based on residual stresses,5,20 strain hardening,5 plasticity
induced crack closure20–21 and crack tip blunting.5,21
The aim of this paper is to study the effect of the stress
ratio (R) under constant and variable amplitude loadings
on base metal (BM), weld metal (WM) and heat affected
zone (HAZ) of longitudinal welded joints of API 5L X-70
pipeline steel. The fatigue behaviour of the welded joint
regions subjected to a single peak tensile OL alternated
by two different levels was also evaluated for variable am-
plitude loading.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Materials
The BM, WM and HAZ regions of longitudinal welded
joints of an API 5L X-70 pipeline steel were studied.
The welded joints were obtained by SAW process. The
main characteristics of the SAW process that was used are
shown in Table 1. The chemical composition of the BM
is presented in Table 2.
Table 1 Main characteristics of the longitudinal welding
Electrode Welding conditions
Tack welding: MAG CO2 Heat input (kJ/cm) = 1.39–4.45
Manufacturer: Belgo Bekaert
Diameter (mm) = 3.2
Inside welding: SAW Number of wires: 3
Manufacturer: Bavaria Heat input (kJ/cm) = 33.0
Schweisstechknik
Diameter (mm) = 4.0
Outside welding: SAW Number of wires: 4
Manufacturer: Bavaria Heat input (kJ/cm) = 31.0
Schweisstechknik
Diameter (mm) = 4.0

c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328
 FATIGUE CRACK PROPAGATION IN WELDED JOINTS 323

Table 2 Chemical composition of API 5L X-70 BM (% of weight)

C S Al Si P Ti V Cr Mn Ni Cu Nb Mo N Ceq
0.08 0.002 0.028 0.25 0.017 0.027 0.045 0.02 1.73 0.194 0.016 0.064 0.003 0.0067 0.40

Table 3 Mechanical properties of longitudinal welded joints of

API X-70 steel

Region σ ys(0,2%) (MPa) σ u (MPa) Elongation (mm)

BM 492 583 7.3

WM-L 635 694 7.8
WM-T 557 627 6.3

Fig. 2 Orientation of the fatigue test specimens with respect to the

welded joint (out of scale).

mately) under load control using a sinusoidal waveform,

Fig. 1 Dimensions of SE(B) specimens for fatigue tests
(dimensions in mm).
The mechanical properties of BM and WM regions are
presented in Table 3. Tensile tests in WM region were
performed in longitudinal and transversal directions of
the weld, WM-L and WM-T, respectively.
Fatigue tests
Three point bending SE(B) test specimens (X-groove de-
sign) of dimensions and geometry established at BS 6835
standard22 were used for the FCP tests, Fig. 1. These spec-
imens were chemically etched with Nital 2% solution for
weld revealing and notch positioning. In the case of HAZ,
the notch was positioned in accordance to weld positional
criteria established at BS 7448 part 2 standard23 : 50% of
the notch was positioned on WM and 50% on HAZ. Fig-
ure 2 presents a scheme showing the orientation of the
fatigue test specimens with respect to the welded joint.
Fatigue propagation tests of BM, WM and HAZ regions
were performed using a MTS model 810 servohydraulic
testing machine (100 kN load capacity) in accordance
with BS 6835 standard recommendations.22 All specimens
were tested at ambient air temperature (24 ◦ C, approxi-
frequency of 30 Hz and two stress ratio values (R = 0.1
and 0.5).
Constant and variable amplitude loads were used. Two
different levels of single peak tensile OLs alternating be-
tween 75 and 100% of maximum load were applied ev-
ery 2.5 mm of crack growth, always at the same a value,
in the variable amplitude tests. The interval of 2.5 mm
was used to avoid any interaction effect between OLs.
The last OL of 100% was not applied on the test speci-
mens subjected to R = 0.5, in order to avoid the specimen
fracture.
Reference parallel marks equally spaced of 0.5 mm were
introduced on the surface of the specimens to allow visual
crack growth measurements. The function described by
ASTM E399 standard24 for SE(B) specimens was used for
K-value calculations.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Constant amplitude loading
Figure 3 shows the a versus N curves for the BM, WM and
HAZ regions of the welded joints subjected to constant
amplitude loading for both R-values, 0.1 and 0.5.
The obtained results revealed clearly the effect of R on
the relation between a and N . All welded joint regions sub-
jected to R = 0.5 presented an accelerated crack growth
for a small number of cycles in comparison with R = 0.1.
For R = 0.1, this accelerated growth only occurred after a
large number of cycles. This behaviour is reflected on the
da/dN versus K curves for BM, WM and HAZ regions,


c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328
324 M . A . N E V E S B E L T R Ã O et al.
Fig. 3 a versus N curves of BM, WM and HAZ regions subjected
to R = 0.1 and 0.5 under constant amplitude loading.
Fig. 4 da/dN versus K curves of BM, WM and HAZ regions for
R = 0.1 and 0.5 under constant amplitude loading.
presented in Fig. 4, where all curves for both R-values are
presented.
Figure 4 shows that the welded joints tested at R =
0.5 presented, initially, the highest crack growth rates.
It can be also seen that the FCP rates of each welded joint
region present similar behaviour at higher K-values in-
dicating that the FCP rates are in this case almost indepen-
dent from the R-values. Table 4 presents the approximate
da/dN and K values where the similarity between crack
growth rates was observed.
Although no crack closure measurements were carried
out, the similarity between da/dN curves might be ac-
counted for the decrease of this phenomenon at high
K-values. This idea is reinforced by the fact that this
phenomenon is more pronounced for small values of K,
where K min is below or close to K op value and that above
Table 4 Values of K and da/dN of each welded joint region
where FCP rates tend to be similar for both R-values studied
Region K (MPa.m1/2 ) da/dN (mm/cycle)
BM ∼
= 34 ∼
=3.3 × 10−4
WM ∼
=47 ∼
=3.8 × 10−4
HAZ ∼
=36 ∼
=2.6 × 10−4
K op , the crack is fully opened. A small R-value represents
a small K min value for the same K and consequently a
larger K-value for the crack to be fully opened. On the
other hand, Lal25–27 presents a model based on mecha-
nistic approach to examine the influence of positive stress
ratio values (0 ≤ R ≤ 1) on FCP of ductile materials
independent of crack closure arguments. This approach
considers the presence of two micromechanisms during
crack growth: submicroscopic cleavage at the beginning
and RS (its contribution will increase gradually). Accord-
ing this approach, both mechanisms may be present dur-
ing crack propagation for R < 0.6. However, as the crack
growth rate is no longer affected by an increase in R-
value, RS is the dominant mechanism beyond this point.
In this sense, the similarity between crack growth rates ob-
served here in each region may indicate a RS-dominant
crack growth mechanism close to K-values presented in
Table 4.
The individual analysis of the welded joint regions
through their da/dN versus K curves in Fig. 4, shows
that the BM presents the highest crack growth rate at all
K ranges studied for R = 0.5. On the other hand, for
R = 0.1, this behaviour is observed for K values above
25 MPa.m1/2 , approximately. The experimental Paris law
coefficients of region II obtained in this work for the
three welded joint regions studied are shown in Table 5.
Other coefficients obtained by Shi et al.,28 Fernandes29
and Vosikovski and Rivard30 for X-52, X-60 and X-65
steels, respectively are also presented in Table 5 for com-
parison.
Table 5 shows that the Paris equation coefficients ob-
tained in this work for all welded joint regions of X-70
steel for R = 0.5 presented analogous values. On the other
hand, for R = 0.1, the different coefficient values obtained
indicate that the crack growth rate in region II of prop-
agation can be influenced by the microstructure of the
welded joint regions. In this sense, the results show that
the FCP in region II is not affected by the microstructure
of the welded joints for R = 0.5.
Variable amplitude loading
All a versus N curves of the three welded joint regions
tested at variable amplitude loading for R = 0.1 and 0.5

c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328
 FATIGUE CRACK PROPAGATION IN WELDED JOINTS 325

Table 5 Coefficients of Paris law for the three regions of the welded joints of X-70 steel obtained in this work and from the literature

Welded joint region

BM WM HAZ

Steel R Author C n C N C n

X-70 0.1 This work 2.06 × 10−11 4.59 1.60 × 10−9 3.22 4.03 × 10−10 3.66
0.5 3.73 × 10−9 3.28 3.07 × 10−9 3.16 3.18 × 10−9 3.20
X-52 0.1 Ref. [28] 6.11 × 10−14 4.42 2.46 × 10−14 4.19 – –
X-60 0.1 Ref. [29] 5.13 × 10−10 3.61 2.60 × 10−11 4.91 – –
0.7 4.35 × 10−9 4.74 4.74 × 10−10 4.09 – –
X-65 0.05 Ref. [30] 1.33 × 10−9 3.53 – – – –

The results of the a versus N curves presented in Fig. 5

Fig. 5 a versus N curves for welded joints under variable amplitude
loading for R = 0.1 and 0.5.
are presented in Fig. 5. The respective da/dN versus K
curves are presented in Figs 6–8. All these curves are also
presented in Fig. 9 for comparison. The points of OL
application are indicated by arrows.
for variable amplitude loading with OLs reveal the same
behaviour than for constant amplitude loading: BM, WM
and HAZ regions subjected to R = 0.5 show a more accel-
erated crack growth than R = 0.1, inducing a shorter fa-
tigue life. This behaviour is reflected on the da/dN versus
K curves (Figs 6–8): initially, like at constant amplitude
tests, a greater crack propagation rate results for R = 0.5.
On the other hand, similar FCP rates were observed for
high K-values. BM region exhibited the highest crack
propagation rates for both R-values, this effect being more
evident for R = 0.1, while WM and HAZ regions showed
similar behaviour, as can be seen in Fig. 9.
Figures 6–8 show a small drop of crack propagation
rate after OL application for all fatigue tests carried
out, characterizing a crack delay, as expected. How-
ever, when K values increase, it is perceptible that the
drop in crack propagation rate promoted by the OLs
decreases until a point where crack delay is no more
observed.
The size of the monotonic plastic zone promoted by the
OL can be estimated from10

Fig. 6 da/dN versus K curves of BM region for R = 0.1 and 0.5 under variable amplitude loading.


c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328
326 M . A . N E V E S B E L T R Ã O et al.
Fig. 7 da/dN versus K curves of WM region for R = 0.1 and 0.5 under variable amplitude loading.
Fig. 8 da/dN versus K curves of HAZ region for R = 0.1 and 0.5 under variable amplitude loading.
 2
K OL
rOL = α , (2)
σys
where K OL is the maximum stress intensity factor at the
OL, σ ys is the yield strength of the material and α is 1/3π
or 1/π for plane strain or plane stress state, respectively.
This plastic zone is responsible for a compressive resid-
ual stress field formation. As the fatigue crack advances
through this zone, a higher crack opening load is required
for crack propagation promoting the observed FCP delay.
From Eq. (2), higher K-values were expected to cre-
ate larger plastic zone sizes and consequently an increase
on the FCP delay effect. However, this behaviour was
not observed. Borrego et al.7 observed a similar trend in
6082-T6 aluminium alloy. According them, at high K-
values, crack growth due to OL application is more sig-
nificant than the effect of FCP delay expected with K.
In this work, the presence of secondary microcracks was
observed in all welded joint regions at high values of K
(Fig. 10a–c).
As the final OLs were applied at high values of K, K OL
must be close to the fracture toughness of the material and
the amount of secondary microcracks will increase. Thus,
the contribution to crack propagation of the increase of
microcracks is more effective than the expected delay.
CONCLUSIONS
In this work, the stress ratio (R) effect on FCP of longi-
tudinal welded joint regions of an API X-70 steel under

c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328
 FATIGUE CRACK PROPAGATION IN WELDED JOINTS 327

constant amplitude loading and variable amplitude load-

ing under a single cycle peak tensile OL application was
investigated. The results obtained lead to the following
conclusions.
The longitudinal welded joint regions subjected to
R = 0.5 initially presented the highest FCP rates in
the constant amplitude tests. At higher K values all
welded joint regions present similar behaviour indicat-
ing that the FCP rates get more independent from
the R-values. The similarity between crack growth rates
at high K-values in each region may indicate a RS-
dominant crack growth mechanism or a decreasing of
crack closure phenomena. The discrepancy between n-
values from Paris constants for R = 0.1 may indicate an in-
fluence of the microstructure on FCP of the welded joints
investigated.
Single peak tensile OL application on variable ampli-
Fig. 9 da/dN versus K curves of BM, WM and HAZ regions for
R = 0.1 and 0.5 under variable amplitude loading.
tude tests promoted delays on FCP rates in all welded
joint regions for both R-values, as expected. However,
the propagation delay was not observed at elevated K

Fig. 10 SEM images of (a) BM, (b) WM and (c) HAZ regions at high K -values. The presence of secondary microcracks can be observed in
all regions.


c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328
328 M . A . N E V E S B E L T R Ã O et al.
values. The higher amount of secondary microcracks at
elevated K values promoted by OL application can ex-
plain this behaviour.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank TenarisConfab (special
thanks to Eng. S. Kojima) for the welded joint mate-
rials, the Materials Group of CTEx/Brazilian Army for
the laboratorial facilities, CNPq (CT-Petro Project num-
ber 502084/03-0) and CAPES for the financial support,
CAPES and CNPq for the scholarship of M.A.N. Beltrão
and CAPES for the fellowship of E.M. Castrodeza.
REFERENCES
1 Kujawski, D. and Ellyin, F. (1987) A fatigue crack growth
model with load ratio effects. Eng. Fract. Mech. 28, 367–
378.
2 Bulloch, J. H. (1994) Fatigue threshold in steels – mean stress
and microstructure influences. Int. J. Ves. Piping 58, 103–
127.
3 Zhang, J., He, X. D. and Du, S. Y. (2003) A simple
engineering approach in the prediction of the effect of stress
ratio on fatigue threshold. Int. J. Fatigue 25, 935–938.
4 Kujawski, D. (2001) A fatigue crack driving force parameter
with load ratio effects. Int. J. Fatigue 23, S239–S246.
5 Borrego, L. P., Ferreira, J. M., da Cruz, J. M. P. and Costa, J.
M. (2003) Evaluation of overload effects on fatigue crack
growth and closure. Eng. Fract. Mech. 70, 1379–1397.
6 Meggiolaro, M. A. and de Castro, J. T. P. (2003) On the
dominant role of crack closure on fatigue crack growth
modeling. Int. J. Fatigue 25, 843–854.
7 Borrego, L. P., Costa, J. M. and Ferreira, J. M. (2005) Fatigue
crack growth in thin aluminium alloy sheets under loading
sequences with periodic overloads. Thin-Walled Struct. 43,
772–788.
8 Huang, H. L. and Ho, N. J. (2001) The observation and
analysis of the dislocation morphology of fatigue crack tips at
steady state propagation rates subject to a single peak load.
Mater. Sci. Eng. A298, 251–261.
9 Hammouda, M. M. I., Osman, H. G. and Sallam, H. E. M.
(2004) Mode I notch fatigue crack growth behaviour under
constant amplitude loading and due to the application of a
single tensile overload. Int. J. Fatigue 26, 183–192.
10 Rushton, P. A. and Taheri, F. (2003) Prediction of crack
growth in 350WT steel subjected to constant amplitude with
over-and under-loads using a modified Wheeler approach.
Mar. Struct. 16, 517–539.
11 Ramos, M. S., Pereira, M. V., Darwish, F. A., Motta, S. H.
and Carneiro, M. A. (2003) Effect of single and multiple
overloading on the residual fatigue life of a structural steel.
Fatigue Fract. Engng. Mater. Fatigue Fract. Engng. Mater.
Struct. 26, 115–121.
12 Geary, W. (1992) A review of some aspects of fatigue crack
growth under variable amplitude loading. Int. J. Fatigue 14,
377–386.
13 Verma, B. B. and Pandey, R. K. (1999) The effects of loading
variables on overload induced fatigue crack growth retardation
parameters. J. Mater. Sci. 34, 4867–4871.
14 Kumar, R., Kumar, A. and Kumar, S. (1994) Delay effects in
fatigue crack propagation. Int. J. Pres. Ves. Piping 67, 1–5.
15 Sander, M. and Richard, H. A. (2006) Fatigue crack growth
under variable amplitude loading. Part I: experimental
investigations. Fatigue Fract. Engng. Mater. Struct. 29,
291–301.
16 Yuen, B. K. C. and Taheri, F. (2006) Proposed modifications
to the Wheeler retardation model for multiple overloading
fatigue life prediction. Int. J. Fatigue 28, 1803–1819.
17 Tür, Y. K. and Vardar, Ö. (1996) Periodic tensile overloads in
2024-T3 Al-alloy. Eng. Fract. Mech. 53, 69–77.
18 Singh, K. D., Khor, K. H. and Sinclair, I. (2008) Finite
element and analytical modeling of crack closure due to
repeated overloads. Acta Mater. 56, 835–851.
19 Celik, C. E., Vardar, Ö. and Kalenderoglu, V. (2004)
Comparison of retardation behaviour of 2024-T3 and
7075-T6 alloys. Fatigue Fract. Engng. Mater. Struct. 27,
713–722.
20 Mc Evily, A. J. and Ishihara, S. (2002) On the development of
crack closure at high R levels an overload. Fatigue Fract.
Engng. Mater. Struct. 25, 993–998.
21 Mohanty, J. R., Verma, B. B. and Ray, P. K. (2009) Prediction
of fatigue crack growth and residual life using an exponential
model. Part II: mode-I overload induced retardation. Int. J.
Fatigue 31, 425–432.
22 BS 6835 Standard (1988) Determination of the Rate of
Fatigue Crack Growth in Metallic Materials.
23 BS 7448 Part II Standard (1997) Fracture mechanics
toughness tests. Method for determination of K IC , critical
CTOD and critical J values of welds in metallic materials.
24 ASTM E399 Standard (1999) Standard Test Method for
Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness of Metallic Materials.
25 Lal, D. N. (1994) A mechanistic model for the influence of
stress ratio on the LEFM fatigue crack growth behavior of
metals and alloys – I. crack ductile materials. Eng. Fract. Mech.
49, 871–897.
26 Lal, D. N. (1996) A detailed physical analysis of the R-effect
on LEFM fatigue crack growth – I. On the combined roles of
critical zones, FEFM parameters and stress ratio. Eng. Fract.
Mech. 55, 115–132.
27 Lal, D. N. (1996) A detailed physical analysis of the R-effect
on LEFM fatigue crack growth – II. On the combined roles of
growth mechanisms and stress ratio. Eng. Fract. Mech. 55,
289–312.
28 Shi, Y. N., Chen, B. Y. and Zhang, J. X. (1999) Effects of
welding residual stresses on fatigue crack growth behaviour in
butt welds of a pipeline steel. Eng. Fract. Mech. 36, 893–902.
29 Fernandes, J. L. (2002) Uma Metodologia para a Análise e
Modelagem de Tensões Residuais. PhD Thesis, PUC, Rio de
Janeiro, RJ, Brazil (in Portuguese).
30 Vosikovski, O. and Rivard, A. (1981) Growth of surface
fatigue cracks in a steel plate. Int. J. Fatigue 3, 111–115.

c 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 34, 321–328