International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Experimental and numerical investigation of mixed mode fatigue crack T

growth models in aluminum 6061-T6
S. Sajith, K.S.R.K. Murthy , P.S. Robi
⁎

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Damage tolerance philosophy and safe life design principles are widely used for critical structural components,
Mixed mode and in such cases, fatigue life prediction using the numerical techniques is essential. In the present work, mixed
Fatigue crack growth mode fatigue crack growth experiments are performed using the compact tension shear specimens made of Al
Numerical modeling 6061-T6 alloy for mode mixity angles of 30°, 45°, and 60°. These experimental studies are supported by nu-
Stress intensity factor
merical and fractographic studies on the selected specimens. A three-parameter double exponential model for
Aluminum alloys
Fractography
fitting the fatigue crack growth curves (crack length vs. the number of fatigue life cycles) is also proposed for
both the mode I and mixed mode (I/II) loading conditions. Numerical prediction of mixed mode (I/II) fatigue life
is carried out using the Paris’ law in combination with various K eq models. The results of the present in-
vestigation show that highly satisfactory best fits to the scattered experimental data can be obtained with the
help of the proposed double exponential model. The predicted life is compared with the experimental fatigue life
using various measures of error. Based on the overall performance of the models during the entire crack growth
regime, the results of the present investigation clearly show that Irwin’s model and one of the Tanaka’s model are
consistently found to predict the mixed mode fatigue life close to the experimental data. Whereas, Richard’s and
Yan’s models, again based on the overall performance, are found to be conservative models consistently for the
prediction of the mixed mode fatigue life. These conclusions are verified with the published results.

1. Introduction experimental FCG data.

The presence of cracks and their exposure to the cyclic loads is very
common in structural/engineering components. As a consequence, fa-
tigue fractures turn into the most dominant mode of failure of en-
gineering components. Using fracture mechanics principles, prediction
of fatigue life is an essential tool in studies of structural integrity and
damage tolerance analyses. Due to the complex nature of external
forces, the geometry of components and boundary conditions, cracks in
the components often subjected to mixed mode loading. A great deal of
effort has been made to correlate mixed mode (I/II) fatigue crack
growth (FCG) rate with various parameters such as stress intensity
factors (SIFs) and J-integral etc. Among them, the modified form of
Paris’ law proposed by Tanaka [1] is widely in use for correlating ex-
perimental FCG rates and the numerical prediction of residual life of
engineering components. This law relates the mixed mode FCG rate
with the equivalent stress intensity factor ( K eq) , which is a function of
KI and KII (Fig. 1(a)). Subsequently, a good number of attempts have
been made to improve the Tanaka’s approach by introducing various
K eq models (based on various criteria) to correlate with the
These K eq models in Paris’ law can be broadly classified into three
groups viz., models that are derived based on specific fatigue crack
propagation theories [1], static mixed mode fracture theories [2–4],
and empirical studies [5–7]. Tanaka [1] derived two K eq models based
on the plastic yielding ahead of the crack tip under fatigue loading and
tested the models using specimens made of aluminum. Biner [8] pro-
posed a K eq model based on the sum of the individual strain energy
release rates [3] in mixed mode loading (I/II) and employed the model
to study the FCG rates in AISI 304 steel. Hussian et al. [2] presented a
K eq model based on the computation of the strain energy release rate
in mixed mode (I/II) loading conditions. To the knowledge of authors,
this model has not yet been tested using fatigue experiments. Based on
the maximum tangential stress criteria (MTS), Yan et al. [4] proposed a
model which is a function of KI and KII . Based on the experimental and
numerical studies empirical models have also been devised [5–7]. A
summary of many such models is available in [7,9–16]. Apart from
Tanaka’s modified form of Paris’ law, other mixed mode fatigue crack
growth laws can be found in [17–21].
Although a large number of K eq models are available, it is apparent

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ksrkm@iitg.ac.in (K.S.R.K. Murthy).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2019.105285
Received 19 May 2019; Received in revised form 7 September 2019; Accepted 17 September 2019
Available online 18 September 2019
0142-1123/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Sajith, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

Fig. 1. (a) K eq as a function of KI and KII and (b) Fracture limit curve under mixed mode (I/II) loading.

Table 1
Tensile properties of Al 6061-T6.
Yield strength (MPa) Ultimate tensile strength (MPa) % Elongation Young’s modulus (GPa) Poisson’s ratio

270 307 14.8 68 0.33

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the orientation of the crack with the rolling
direction.

from the literature that when a new model was developed, no ver-
ification of the existing models until that time was made. In structural
integrity and damage tolerance assessments, the fatigue life under
mixed mode (I/II) loading conditions is estimated using the numerical
methods such as finite element method by employing the modified form
of Paris’ law as

da
= C ( K eq ) m
dN (1)

where C and m are material dependent constants obtained using stan-

dard mode I FCG experiments and K eq is the one of the above available
equivalent stress intensity factor. Due to non-self-similar crack growth
(Fig. 1(a)) in mixed mode loading, the accuracy of the predicted fatigue
life depends on the accuracy of the SIF computation, the K eq model
and the criterion employed for crack path prediction. As stated earlier, Fig. 3. (a) geometry of the CTS specimen, (b) geometry of Richard’s fixture and
though many works are available providing a variety of K eq models for (c) Richard’s fixture with specimen in place.
life prediction, the works on experimental and numerical verification of
the effect of these models on the predicted life are scarce.
experimental life data. Availability of such knowledge is of great im-
It is clear that life predictions made without the knowledge about
portance in structural integrity and damage tolerance assessments. To
the capabilities of various K eq models proposed does not provide
the knowledge of authors, only a few works are carried out in this di-
useful data. Therefore, it is obligatory that these models need to be
rection by Sajith et al. [15] using finite element simulations and Demir
examined (in a common experimental program) to understand whether
et al. [14] using experiments and numerical modeling. Nevertheless,
they offer nearly accurate or conservative predictions compared to the

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S. Sajith, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

where K eq = f ( KI , KII ) and

KI = KI ,max KI ,min and KII = KII ,max KII ,min (3)

Fig. 1(b) shows a typical fracture limit curve for mixed mode (I/II)
loading where the threshold region and stable and unstable crack
growth regions are shown. Fatigue crack growth occurs if the equiva-
lent SIF exceeds the material-dependent threshold value KI , th [10,25],
K eq KI , th (4)

and unstable fracture occurs if

K eq max KIC (5)

where K eq max is maximum K eq and KIC is the plane strain fracture

toughness of the material. For a finite, predefined crack increment a ,
the associated fatigue life can be estimated as
a N
da
= dN = N
0
C ( K eq )m 0 (6)

If the increment ai (=ai + 1 ai ) is very small, Eq. (6) can be dis-

Fig. 4. Overall view of the experimental setup. cretized and N in the above equation for an i th step can be estimated
as
these limited studies are not sufficient to provide conclusive knowledge
ai
on the performance of various K eq models. Therefore, the purpose of i m
= Ni
the present investigation is to conduct mixed mode fatigue crack
C ( K eq ) (7)
growth experiments using Al 6061-T6 supported by numerical simula- Eq. (7) is employed in the present investigation for the numerical
tions to provide a substantial understanding of the effect of different estimation of the fatigue life for a predefined crack increment of a .
K eq models in prediction of the mixed mode fatigue life of engineering The K eqi
for an i th step is computed at a crack length of ai [26], and the
components. In the mixed mode (I/II) FCG experiments, the digital mixed mode SIFs are calculated using a recently proposed crack flank
microscope is widely employed for capturing the images of the growing displacement method [23]. As far as the Paris’ material constants C and
crack for the measurement of crack length, as the crack opening dis- m are concerned in Eq. (1), the current practice in numerical simulation
placement (COD) gauge is not recommended for such experiments. of mixed mode fatigue crack propagation is to use the values from mode
Significant amount of scatter may arise in the measured data due to the I experiments [4,15,25,27–29].
dependence of measured crack length on the analysis of large number
of captured images. Thus, another aim of the present work is to propose 2.2. Selected K eq models
a three parameter double exponential curve-fitting model for the best fit
of the experimental crack length (a) versus loading cycles (N ) data in A brief discussion of various K eq models selected in the present
mixed mode (I/II) loading conditions to minimize the scatter in the investigation are described as follows:
measured data. The proposed model is also best suited for the fitting of
the mode I data.
2.2.1. Tanaka’s models
In the present work, mixed mode (I/II) fatigue crack growth ex-
Based on the Lardner’s [30] postulation (the fatigue crack growth is
periments are performed using Richard’s apparatus and the corre-
equal to the reverse component of displacement at the crack tip) and
sponding compact tension specimen (CTS) [22]. The finite element si-
Weertman’s [31] dislocation based fatigue crack propagation theory
mulation of mixed mode (I/II) fatigue crack growth is carried out, and
Tanaka [1] proposed two forms of K eq models, respectively as
the SIFs are estimated using the recently proposed finite element dis-
placement-based technique [23]. Mode I FCG test is also conducted for K eq = ( KI2 + 2 KII2 )1 2
(8)
obtaining material constants in Eq. (1). Then, the fatigue life is esti-
mated using the different K eq models. The predicted life is compared K eq = ( KI4 + 8 KII4 )1 4
(9)
with the experimental fatigue life along with the fractography of the
These forms of K eq have been widely employed for numerical fa-
growing crack at different stages of crack growth. The results of the
tigue crack growth studies [26,32,33].
present investigation concretely provide useful recommendations and
capability of the selected K eq models for practical applications.
2.2.2. Irwin’s model
Using the definition of Irwin’s [50] potential energy release rate
2. Theoretical background
G (=GI + GII ) in mixed mode (I/II) loading conditions and its relation to
the SIFs KI and KII under plane stress conditions an equivalent SIF K eq
This section briefly describes mixed mode Paris’ law, various K eq
can be derived as
models, and the numerical estimation of the FCG rates and fatigue life.
K eq = KI2 + KII2 (10)
2.1. Paris law for mixed mode (I/II) loading
Biner [8] employed this model for mixed mode (I/II) fatigue crack
growth studies.
Tanaka [1], proposed a modified form of the Paris’ law [24] and was
first to correlate the fatigue crack growth rate da dN as a function of
the mixed mode SIFs (Eq (1)), 2.2.3. Yan’s model
Based on the equation of hoop stress under mixed mode loading
da
= C ( K eq ) m conditions [34], Yan et al. [4] proposed another expression for
dN (2) equivalent SIF as

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S. Sajith, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

Fig. 5. (a) Digital microscope setup for capturing the crack growth and (b) crack tip image captured using the microscope.

Fig. 6. Fatigue crack growth curves for mode I loading (a) a vs N curve and (b) da dN vs K curve.

Fig. 7. Fractured CTS specimens for loading angles (a) 30°, (b) 45°, and (c) 60°.

1 [36] an equivalent SIF K eq model is proposed by Hussain et al. [2]

K eq = cos c [ KI (1 + cos c ) 3 KII sin c ]
2 2 (11) using variable mapping function as

where c is crack propagation direction (Fig. 1). This form of K eq is

4 1 c
(1 + 3cos2 c) KI2 + 4 sin 2 KI KII +
widely employed by many researchers [4,27–29,35] in their experi- c c
K eq =
(3 + cos2 )2 1+ (9 5cos2 c) KII2
mental and numerical studies.
c c

(12)

2.2.4. Hussain’s model The above expression is suggested to use in the modified Paris’ law
Based on Griffith’s maximum fracture energy release rate principle by Miranda et al. [12] but it is not employed in the experimental studies

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S. Sajith, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

Fig. 8. Crack initiation angle of mixed mode specimens (CTS) for loading angles (a) 30° (b) 45° and (c) 60°.

Fig. 9. Experimental data and the best fit line using three parameter double exponential model for (a) = 30° (specimen 1), (b) = 30° (specimen 2), (c) = 45° and
(d) = 60° .

Table 2 which is comparable to the equivalent stress in the classical stress hy-
Best fit parameters of the proposed double exponential model. pothesis as
Loading angle p k q r2 KI 1
K eq = + KI2 + 4( KII )2
2 2 (13)
30° (specimen 1) 3.95 × 10 6 1.08 × 10 1 1.36 × 10 4 0.9975
30° (specimen 2) 2.59 × 10 6 2.48 × 10 1 1.22 × 10 4 0.9965 where = 1.155 is a constant [16]. This model is also widely employed
45° 5.05 × 10 6 4.24 × 10 4 3.19 × 10 4 0.9983 in experiments and numerical simulations of fatigue crack growth
60° 3.21 × 10 6 1.79 × 10 2 1.33 × 10 4 0.9978 [10,39].

to date. However, the above K eq is employed in numerical simulations
by Sajith et al. [15].
2.2.5. Richard’s model
Richard and co-workers [37,38] have also proposed a form of K eq
2.2.6. Demir’s model
Recently, Demir et al. [14] proposed another model for K eq using
the nonlinear regression analysis of the numerical and experimental
results of the CTS specimen. This model is proposed for use at higher
load mixity levels. The model is verified using a T-type mixed mode
specimen. Their model is given by

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S. Sajith, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

Table 3
List of K eq models used in the present study.

Model Tanaka 1 Tanaka 2 Irwin Yan Hussain Richard Demir

Eq. No. Eq. (8) Eq. (9) Eq. (10) Eq. (11) Eq. (12) Eq. (13) Eq. (14)

where positive c is defined as the angle measured in the anticlockwise

direction with respect to the initial crack orientation direction.

2.4. Determination of mixed mode SIFs

Finite element displacement-based SIF estimation technique pro-

posed by Sajith et al. [23] is employed in the present work. It de-
termines the crack opening displacement (COD) and crack sliding dis-
placement (CSD) using a combination of singular and higher-order
terms for the estimation of mixed mode (I/II) SIFs. This technique
provides very accurate SIFs along with their signs, which is important
in Eq. (16). The accuracy of the proposed technique is on the same
order as that of the path independent integrals even when using the
coarse meshes. Detailed implementation and other details of this
technique can be found in [23].

3. Experimental procedures

3.1. Materials, specimens’ geometry, and loading

In the present investigation mode I and mixed mode (I/II) FCG ex-
periments have been conducted on Al 6061-T6 specimens. In these
experiments, the CTS specimens are loaded at angles 30°, 45° and 60° to
the initial crack direction. BiSS-ITW make, Median 250 model, a 250 kN
servohydraulic tensile testing machine is used in all experiments to load
the specimens. Tensile test properties according to ASTM E8 of Al 6061-
T6 material are shown in Table 1. ASTM E647-15e1 standard guidelines
Fig. 10. Loading and boundary conditions used for the numerical simulation of are employed for conducting both the mode I and mixed mode ex-
the CTS specimens. is the angle between applied tensile load P and crack face periments. All specimens of the present investigation (including tensile
normal (loading angle). coupons) were cut from the plate in the rolling direction (L-T orienta-
tion), and the crack is in the transverse direction, as shown in Fig. 2. All
K eq = (1.0519 KI4 0.035 KII4 + 2.3056 KI2 KII2 )1 4
(14) specimens have been fabricated using wire EDM process. Mode I FCG
tests have been conducted using compact tension (CT) specimen to
Apart from the above expressions, many others can be found in obtain the Paris’ constants C and m in Eq. (1). The thickness of the CT
review papers [9,11] and articles [12,13]. specimen used in this study is 22 mm, width is 60 mm, and the other
dimensions are as per ASTM E647-15e1 standard. On the other hand,
2.3. Fatigue crack path estimation the CTS specimen, as shown in Fig. 3(a) is employed for mixed mode
FCG studies. The thickness of the CTS specimen is 15 mm and Fig. 3(a)
Accurate prediction of the fatigue crack path is essential for the shows all other dimensions of the specimen.
numerical prediction of fatigue life. It is worth noting that various Richard’s loading device [22], as shown in Fig. 3(b) is used for in-
criteria employed for numerical simulation of the crack path in mixed ducing the mixed mode loading condition in the CTS specimen. The
mode fatigue loading conditions are developed for elastostatic cases loading device is made of alloy steel AISI 4340, as shown in Fig. 3(c). A
[9,11,40,41]. Among the established criterion, the maximum tangential fine notch of width 3 mm and the notch angle 30° is machined in CTS
stress (MTS) criterion proposed by Erdogan and Sih [34] is widely in specimen using the wire EDM process (Fig. 3(a)). The initial length of
use. According to this criterion, the crack propagates in a radial di- the machined notch was 40 mm for the CTS specimen. A 5 mm fatigue
rection ( c ) from the crack tip in which the tangential stress ( ) be- pre-crack is introduced in the CTS. The specimen surfaces are mirror-
comes maximum ( ,max ) , and the unstable fracture takes place when polished, and gridlines are drawn to facilitate the measurement of the
the tangential stress reaches a critical value. By maximizing the tan- growing crack length. Fig. 3(c) shows Richard’s fixture arrangement for
gential stress component with the polar coordinate of the crack tip mixed mode (I/II) fatigue testing along with the specimen in place. The
local coordinate system ( ,max = 0) , the crack extension direction overall view of the mixed mode (I/II) experimental setup is shown in
c can be found as Fig. 4.
KI sin c + KII (3 cos c 1) = 0 (15) The mode I tests were performed at a maximum load Pmax = 14 kN ,
load ratio R = 0.1(R = Pmin Pmax ) , and loading frequency is set at 10 Hz
The solution of the above equation can be expressed as
from pre-cracking to the final rupture. The instantaneous crack lengths
were recorded using the COD gauges attached to the CT specimen. The
c = 2tan 1 1 KI
4 KII
1
4 ( )
KI 2
KII
+8 for KII > 0 crack growth rates were calculated using the variable amplitude fatigue
crack propagation (VAFCP) module of the universal testing machine.
c = 2tan 1 1 KI
4 KII
+
1
4 ( )
KI 2
KII
+8 for KII < 0
(16)
The VAFCP module is built in compliance with the ASTM E399-17 and
ASTM E647-15e1 standards. The crack growth tests were continued

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S. Sajith, et al.
Fig. 11. Finite element meshes used for the numerical simulation of CTS specimen loaded at 30° (a) Initial mesh (b) View near the crack tip in initial mesh (c) Crack
tip mesh at 10th step and (d) Crack tip mesh at 20th step.
Fig. 12. Results of the mesh convergence study.
until the final rupture of the specimen.
Since there are no standards for the mixed mode (I/II) fatigue crack
growth test, ASTM E647-15e1 guidelines have been used in the present
experiments. Two CTS specimens for the loading angle 30° (specimen 1
and specimen 2) and one specimen for each of the loading angles 45°
and 60° have been tested here. For all these four specimens, pre-
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International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285
cracking and FCG tests are carried out under load control at a constant
load of Pmax = 16 kN , load ratio R = 0.1 and the frequency of 10 Hz. The
images of the growing crack are captured using a digital microscope
and the coordinates of the growing crack tip and length of the crack are
measured using the captured images as explained in the next section.
3.2. Crack length measurement
Due to the mode II loading, clip gauges are found not suitable while
conducting the mixed mode fatigue experiments. The most common
practice to measure the length of the growing crack (in a curvilinear
fashion) in mixed mode loading (I/II) is to employ a digital microscope.
Fig. 5(a) shows the microscope and the crack length capture setup. The
digital microscope is mounted on the base of the traveling microscope
to facilitate the hassle-free movement of the digital microscope along
the propagating crack tip. Images of the growing crack tip were re-
corded at every 5-sec intervals using Dino-Lite Pro digital microscope.
Corresponding to each image, the number of loading cycles were also
recorded. Fig. 5(b) shows the typical image captured by the digital
microscope. The crack length is measured using DinoCapture software
from the images obtained during the crack propagation. The intersec-
tion of the crack tip with the gridlines is considered as a reference point
during the crack length measurement. Thus, using the image analysis
and recorded load cycles, the crack length versus fatigue life (a N )
curve is obtained.
S. Sajith, et al.
Fig. 13. (a) comparison of crack initiation angle with MTS and SED and (b) experimental and predicted crack paths using MTS of the three specimens.
Fig. 14. Comparison of experimental and simulated fatigue life using various
K eq models for the = 30° .
3.3. Proposed curve fitting
As the mode I FCG test is standardized, the majority of the com-
mercial testing systems contain software to provide smoothened ex-
perimental crack growth curve, i.e., a versus N graph by best fitting the
experimental data. On the other hand, no such standardized test pro-
cedure is available for mixed mode FCG studies. Moreover, due to the
presence of mode II displacement component, clip gauge is not re-
commended for the measurement of the crack growth in mixed mode
experiments. In view of these issues and due to the growth of the crack
in a curvilinear manner, the optical microscope is widely employed in
mixed mode FCG tests.
Even though at the microscopic level, the FCG process is smooth, the
experimental a versus N data usually exhibit scatter [14,42] in the
values. The crack length measurements using the digital microscope is
subjected to human errors [43]. The scatter in fatigue crack growth
data can also occur due to the variability in the testing procedure and
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International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285
the irregularity of the material microstructure [44]. Because of all these
effects, smoothening the experimental data by best fitting techniques is
essential for practical use of the measured data.
In case of mode I loading, various curve fitting techniques are in
practice viz., polynomial curve fitting [45], orthogonal polynomial
approach [46], multi-segment three-parameter equations [47], cubic
spline, smoothing spline techniques [48] and single-term exponential
technique [49]. However, unsatisfactory results have been observed
while using the above best-fit techniques for the present experimental
data. For example, the polynomial fitting [45,46] utilized a single
equation for the entire range of crack growth and resulted in many
inflection points. The spline techniques [48] as well as the three-
parameter model proposed by Smith [47], uses piecewise functions and
results into multiple equations for the whole range of crack growth
which is undesirable in case of the present data.
Mohanty et al. [49], suggested the use of exponential functions
(frequently used in the biological “law of growth”) may be suitable as
the FCG rate increases considerably due to the growth of the crack
uncontrollably at the final stages of the crack propagation. They sug-
gested the use of a two-parameter single exponential function. How-
ever, no satisfactory best-fit trend has been noticed in the present case
even after the use of the Mohanty et al. [49] model. But, this exercise
showed promising results to work with the “law of growth” models.
Thus, by adding an additional exponential term a three-parameter
double exponential model for fitting the whole range of a N data
obtained from both the mode I and mixed mode (I/II) fatigue experi-
ments has been proposed here as
ai = (a 0 k ) e pNi + ke qNi (17)
where ai is the ith step crack length and Ni is the corresponding number
of cycles, a0 is the initial length of the crack, k is a constant, p and q are
exponents to be determined. Theoretically, the proposed model passes
through the point (0, a0) . Unlike the polynomial models, this model
utilizes only three parameters (k, p and q) and can easily be fitted to
the experimental data. In addition, the proposed function is continuous
and differentiable over the range a0 af where af is the final or the
required crack length. In the present work, all a versus N data has been
best fitted using Eq. (17).
S. Sajith, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

Fig. 15. The percentage relative error in estimated fatigue life using various K eq models for the loading angle = 30° (a) specimen 1 and (b) specimen 2.

Table 4
RMS Error and error in L2 norm in estimated fatigue life using various K eq models for = 30° .

Specimen Error Tanaka 1 Tanaka 2 Irwin Yan Hussain Richard Demir

Specimen 1 RMS 1318 876 1063 1496 1125 1442 1807

L2 5.44 3.67 4.41 6.17 5.04 5.95 7.46

Specimen 2 RMS 1528 1214 1337 1671 1543 1627 1777

L2 6.51 5.15 5.69 7.13 6.52 6.94 7.53

Fig. 16. Comparison of experimental and simulated fatigue life using various Fig. 17. Comparison of experimental and simulated fatigue life using various
K eq models for = 45° . K eq models for the = 60° .

4. Experimental results and discussion 4.2. Mixed mode (I/II) FCG experiments

4.1. Mode I fatigue crack growth experiment Fig. 7 shows photographs of the fractured CTS specimen for 30°, 45°,
and 60° loadings angles along with the crack paths. As shown in the
The crack length versus the number of cycles (a N ) and FCG rate subsequent sections, these paths are compared with the paths estimated
curve (da dN K ) obtained from the mode I fatigue test are shown in using MTS criterion. The crack initiation angles measured using the
Fig. 6 (a) and Fig. 6 (b), respectively. The determined Paris’ constants of optical microscope for all the three specimens are shown in Fig. 8. It
Al 6061-T6 using data from a = 14 mm to 36 mm are should be noted that although not shown here, the fractured surface
C = 4.3378 × 10 7 (mm/cycle)/(MPa m1 2) and m = 2.6183. and crack initiation angles of the specimen 2 (for the loading angle 30°)

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S. Sajith, et al. International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285

is nearly similar to that exhibited by the specimen 1 in Figs. 7(a) and

8(a). Fig. 9 shows a N plots of the raw experimental data (of all the
four specimens) obtained by analyzing crack growth images captured
using the digital microscope (Section 3.2) and best-fit curves to the raw
data using the proposed double exponential model in Eq. (17). Coeffi-
cients in Eq. (17) corresponding to the four specimens are shown in
Table 2. The corresponding goodness of fit (r 2 ) is also given in Table 2.
It can be noticed from Fig. 9 and Table 2 that the proposed model ex-
hibits a highly satisfactory representation of the original raw data of
mixed mode experiments.

5. Numerical modeling, results, and discussions

5.1. Details of numerical modeling

In this section, the finite element simulation of FCG in the three CTS
specimens corresponding to the three loading angles has been carried
out. Then the mixed mode fatigue life is computed using seven selected
K eq models and is listed in Table 3. Using Eq. (7) and the procedure
explained in Section 2.1, fatigue life is computed corresponding to each
Fig. 18. The percentage relative error in estimated fatigue life using various of the selected K eq models. Simulations of all the three specimens have
K eq models for the = 45° . been carried out in ANSYS®. Eight noded quadratic quadrilateral ele-
ments are used and plane stress conditions are assumed in all the si-
mulations. Quarter point elements (QPEs) have been deployed at all the
tips of a growing crack for modeling the inverse square root singularly.
Sixteen number of QPEs elements were employed around the crack tip,
and the length of these elements is set at 0.08 mm in all the three si-
mulations. Fig. 10 shows boundary conditions and loads applied for
finite element analysis of a typical specimen. Bottom holes of the CTS
specimen are constrained. The pin loads P1 to P3 developed by the
loading device at the top holes (Fig. 10) are given by [39,50]
P1 = P (0.5 cos + (c b) sin )
P2 = P sin
P3 = P (0.5 cos (c b) sin ) (18)
where is the loading angle (Fig. 10), c and b are defined in Fig. 10.
The loads (P1 to P3) were calculated for different loading angles (30°,
45°, and 60°), and the two-dimensional finite element analysis was
carried out for each loading angle. After each crack growth step com-
plete re-meshing approach has been employed in the present work.
Fig. 11 shows meshing features for loading angle 30° to represent ty-
pical features of all the three specimens. Fig. 11(a) shows the initial
finite element mesh employed for FCG simulation CTS specimen loaded
at 30°. Fig. 11(b) shows mesh near the crack tip in the initial mesh.
Fig. 19. The percentage relative error in estimated fatigue life using various
Fig. 11(c) and (d) show mesh near the crack tip at the 10th and 20th
K eq models for the = 60° .
step of the crack growth, respectively. The following sections describe
the results of finite element analyses of all the three experimental
Table 5 specimens.
RMS Error and error in L2 norm in estimated fatigue life using various K eq
models for the = 45° . 5.2. Convergence of computed mixed mode SIFs
Error type Tanaka 1 Tanaka 2 Irwin Yan Hussain Richard Demir
In order to demonstrate the convergence of the mixed mode SIFs, KI
RMS 1633 925 1006 1953 5332 1854 1571 and KII calculated using the finite element based displacement tech-
L2 7.58 5.03 5.27 8.98 28.02 8.54 7.55
nique [23], the CTS specimen as shown in Fig. 10 with = 45o is
considered here. A solution of the mixed mode SIFs of this configuration
Table 6
is given by Richard [5].
RMS Error and error in L2 norm in estimated fatigue life using various K eq P cos 0.26 + 2.65a (W a)
KI = a (1
models for the = 60° . Wt a W) 1 + 0.55a (W a) 0.08(a (W a))2

P sin 0.23 + 1.40a (W a)

Error type Tanaka 1 Tanaka 2 Irwin Yan Hussain Richard Demir KII = a
Wt (1 a W ) 1 0.67a (W a) + 2.08(a (W a))2 (19)
RMS 5012 4180 2975 5570 5481 5363 1401
L2 13.04 10.87 7.84 14.50 15.77 13.96 4.11 where P is the uniaxial force (Eq. (18)) applied to Richard’s loading
device (Fig. 3(c)) a is the crack length, W is the specimen width and t is

10
S. Sajith, et al.
Fig. 20. Fractographs of the mode I CT specimen showing the fractured surfaces at different crack lengths (a) 12.6 mm, (b) 15.8 mm, (c) 24.5 mm, and (d) 34.8 mm.
[arrows indicate the direction of crack growth, (1) secondary cracks (2) striations (3) transgranular facets].
the specimen thickness. A value of P = 16 kN , a = 45 mm , W = 90 mm
and t = 15 mm are considered for finite element analysis.
Eight finite element meshes (similar to Fig. 11(a)) with increasing
mesh density of the selected specimen have been employed to compute
the mixed mode SIFs using the displacement technique [23]. Fig. 12
shows the plot of the variation of present computed mixed mode SIFs
and the reference values obtained from Eq. (19) as a function of the
length of the QPEs at the crack tip. It can be noticed from Fig. 12 that as
the meshes are refined the computed SIFs KI and KII are converging to
the reference solutions. It can also be observed from the results in
Fig. 12 that the QPE’s length of 0.08 mm is adequate for the accurate
estimation of mixed mode SIFs. Therefore, as stated in Section 5.1, QPE
length is set at 0.08 mm in all the simulations of the present in-
vestigation.
5.3. Prediction of the crack path for all loading angles using MTS criterion
The crack growth direction ( c ) at all stages of crack growth is
calculated using the MTS criteria [34], as given in Eq. (16). Fig. 13(a)
shows the comparison of the experimental crack kinking angles (the
first step of the crack growth) with the both MTS and strain energy
density (SED) criterion for all the three loading angles. It can be noticed
from Fig. 13 that the MTS criterion accurately predicts the measured
angles and the crack path for all the loading angles. In all the simula-
tions of the present study, a crack increment of a = 0.5 mm is set in all
crack growth increments. After i 1th step of crack growth, the crack tip
is advanced to the next position (xi , yi ) such that
11
International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285
xi = xi 1 + a cos( r i) and yi = yi 1 + a sin( r i) (20)
where r i is the angle between the crack growth direction and the
x -axis for the ith step determined using Eq. (16). This procedure is
continued until the crack reaches a length of 60 mm. Then the fatigue
lives are calculated using Eq. (7) and the K eq models given in Table 3
at each step of the crack growth. All necessary codes for computation of
the fatigue life are developed in MATLAB®.
5.4. Fatigue life prediction of CTS specimen for the loading angle of 30°
Following the finite element simulation procedure described in the
previous section, the predicted mixed mode fatigue life using various
K eq models (Table 3) for CTS specimen loaded at an angle of 30° is
shown in Fig. 14. As stated earlier, two CTS specimens (specimen 1 and
specimen 2) have been experimentally tested with a loading angle of
30°. The actual crack path and predicted crack path using MTS criterion
are shown in Fig. 13(b). It can be seen from Fig. 13(b) that the esti-
mation of the fatigue crack path by the MTS criterion is accurate. In
order to assess the capability of these models considered, predicted
fatigue lives are compared with the experimental fatigue life for the
loading angle 30° (obtained in Section 3.2) as shown in Fig. 14. This
figure also shows experimental data of both the specimens (specimen 1
and specimen 2).
Fig. 15 shows the plots of percentage relative error in predicted life
(with respect to the experimental life) by each of the seven models.
Table 4 presents gross error (considering the whole range of crack
growth of 15 mm) computed in terms of RMS and L2 norm values.
S. Sajith, et al.
Fig. 21. Fractographs of the mixed mode 30° CTS specimen showing the fractured surfaces at different crack lengths (a) 45.5 mm, (b) 52.8 mm, (c) 56.2 mm, and (d)
60.6 mm. [arrows indicate the direction of crack growth, (1) secondary cracks (2) striations (3) transgranular facets].
Results in Fig. 15 also show that some models have small errors during
the initial stages and acquired large errors at later stages of crack
propagation and vice-versa. Considering the overall performance of the
models during the entire range of crack propagation, it is evident from
Figs. 14 and 15 that, predictions using Irwin’s and Tanaka 2 K eq
models are close to the experimental data as compared to the other
models. Results presented in Table 4 also shows that Irwin and Tanaka
2 models have made more accurate predictions as compared with the
other models as both the RMS and L2 norm error values are minimum
for these models. Again considering the overall performance during the
entire crack growth range, Figs. 14 and 15 and Table 4 also show that
Richard’s, Yan’s and Demir’s models provide conservative estimates of
the mixed mode fatigue life. It is worth noting here that similar results
have also been observed in the published experimental data of different
mixed mode (I/II) experiments [15]. It can be noticed that the same
conclusions can be observed using the experimental data of specimen 1
and specimen 2.
5.5. Fatigue life prediction using CTS specimen for the loading angles of 45°
and 60°
A similar analysis was carried out for CTS specimens with the
loading angles of 45° and 60°. Following the simulation procedure as is
carried out in the previous section, the predicted fatigue life using all
the seven K eq models for the loading angles 45° and 60° are shown in
Figs. 16 and 17, respectively. Figs. 18 and 19 show the plot of per-
centage relative error in predicted life by each model for the loading
angles 45° and 60°, respectively. Similarly, Tables 5 and 6 present error
12
International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285
in terms of RMS and L2 norm values corresponding to 45° and 60°,
respectively. The actual crack paths and predicted crack paths using
MTS criterion for the loading angles 45° and 60° are shown in
Fig. 13(b). It can be seen from Fig. 13(b) that the estimation of the
fatigue crack paths by the MTS criterion is accurate in all the loading
angles.
Referring to Figs. 16–19, as in the case of 30°, some models ex-
hibited relatively small errors during the initial stages of crack propa-
gation and acquired large errors at later stages. Nonetheless, con-
sidering the overall performance of the models during the entire range
of crack propagation, an interesting observation can be noticed from
the results presented in Figs. 16–19 that for the loading angles 45° and
60°, again the Irwin’s and Tanaka 2 models consistently predicted the
mixed mode fatigue life more closely to the experimental data. Fur-
thermore, similar to the case of the loading angle 30°, Yan’s and Ri-
chard’s models provided a conservative life estimate as compared to the
other models. It is even more interesting to note here that similar results
have also been observed in the published experimental data of different
mixed mode (I/II) experiments [15]. Results in Tables 5 and 6 also
clearly indicate that on overall, Irwin’s and Tanaka 2 model predictions
are close to the experimental data while Yan’s and Richard’s predictions
are conservative as compared to other loads. However, for 60° loading
angle, Demir’s [14] model also provided very accurate predictions as
compared to other loading angles. As claimed by the authors [14], this
model is devised to provide accurate predictions at higher mode mix-
ities.
S. Sajith, et al.
Fig. 22. Fractographs of the mixed mode 45° CTS specimen showing the fractured surfaces at different crack lengths (a) 45.4 mm, (b) 51.6 mm, (c) 55.2 mm, and (d)
57.7 mm.
6. Fatigue fractography
Fractography studies of both mode I and mixed mode specimens are
carried out, and results are presented in Fig. 20 for mode I loading,
Figs. 21–23 for mixed mode loading angles of 30°, 45°, and 60° re-
spectively. These images have been obtained using a Zeiss Sigma field
emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Fatigue crack propa-
gates by the formation of the ductile striations owing to the ductility of
the material [51]. The presence of ductile striations can be observed in
fractographs of both the mode I (Fig. 20(c) and (d)) and mixed mode
loading. The spacing between the striations can be attributed to the FCG
rate at that instant. It can be observed from fractographs of both the
mode I and mixed mode loading that the width of the striations is in-
creasing as the crack grows further, indicating the acceleration of the
crack growth. In general, striations align perpendicular to the macro-
scopic crack growth direction (Figs. 20(c), 21(c), 22(d) and 23(d)).
However, due to the variations in local stresses and microstructure, a
change in crack growth plane and striation alignment direction [52]
can be observed in Fig. 20(d).
The fractured surface of the mode I specimen (Fig. 20) shows the
presence of transgranular crack growth [42]. The presence of secondary
cracks is also evident from the fractography of both the modes I and
mixed mode (I/II) samples (Figs. 20–23). At the initial stages of the
mixed mode fatigue crack growth, the fractured surfaces of all the
specimens (Fig. 21(a), 22(a) and 23(a)) have higher roughness due to
the presence of mode II component (which causes severe rubbing of the
crack surfaces). Subsequently, the surfaces are relatively smooth at the
later stages of the crack growth (Fig. 21(c–d), 22(c–d), and 23(c–d))
13
International Journal of Fatigue 130 (2020) 105285
[53]. In mixed mode loading, as mode II SIF diminishes and mode I SIF
increases continuously, the crack surfaces open up more, reducing the
interference between surfaces, and thereby producing relatively smooth
surfaces. A notable distinction between mode I (Fig. 20) and mixed
mode (Figs. 21–23) loading lies in the roughness of the fracture surface.
Due to the continual decrease of KII , the fracture morphology changes
from dominantly fatigue fracture to a mixture of fatigue fracture and
transgranular quasi-cleavage failure [13,53].
7. Conclusions
In the present investigation, mixed mode (I/II) fatigue crack growth
studies in CTS specimen made of Al 6061-T6 alloy are carried out ex-
perimentally and numerically for various mode mixities. Using experi-
mental and numerical results, an attempt has been made in this work to
study the capability of various K eq models available for use in the
mixed mode Paris’ law for numerical prediction of the fatigue life. A
new best-fit technique for representation of the experimental a N
data based on the double exponential function is also proposed and
demonstrated. Results of the present investigation show that very sa-
tisfactory best-fits can be obtained for both the mode I and mixed mode
(I/II) experimental data with the help of the proposed best-fit model.
Based on the overall performance during the entire range of the fatigue
crack propagation, the results of the present study clearly demonstrate
that Irwin’s K eq model is consistently predicting the mixed mode fa-
tigue life closer to the experimental data. Moreover, one of the two
Tanaka’s model is also consistently found to be a promising model for
the prediction of life close to the experimental data. Again based on the
S. Sajith, et al.
Fig. 23. Fractographs of the mixed mode 60° CTS specimen showing the fractured surfaces at different crack lengths (a) 45.5 mm, (b) 49.2 mm, (c) 53.5 mm, and (d)
57.8 mm.
overall performance, Richard’s and Yan’s model are found to be con-
servative as compared to the other models. Interestingly, the K eq
model proposed by Demir et al. [14] is found highly accurate in pre-
diction of life for 60° as specified by Demir et al. [14] and is con-
servative for other loading angles.
Acknowledgements
Authors sincerely thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable
suggestions. Authors acknowledge Dr. C.M. Manjunatha (Chief
Scientist, NAL, Bangalore, India), Dr. H.N. Bar (Scientist, National
Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, India) and Mr. Shiv Sahaya
Shukla (Ph.D. Student, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati) for
their valuable contribution in carrying out the experiments. The au-
thors are thankful to Central Instrumentation Facility, Indian Institute
of Technology Guwahati for providing UTM and FESEM facility for this
work.
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