International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

A new approach to the correlation between the coefficient and the

exponent in the power law equation of fatigue crack growth
F. Bergner *, G. Zouhar
Institute of Materials Science, Dresden University of Technology, D-01062 Dresden, Germany

Received 28 July 1999; received in revised form 17 November 1999; accepted 17 November 1999

Abstract

The presented experimental results for 2xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx type aluminium alloys show a variability of the fatigue crack growth
rates in the Paris regime to an extent important for the materials selection according to the damage tolerant design concept in the
aircraft industry. This paper briefly reviews the controversial views on the correlation between coefficient and exponent in the
power law equation of fatigue crack growth. A new approach to the correlation based on a scaling factor of the stress intensity
factor range is outlined. It is shown that the correlation is an algebraic one that can be suppressed by choosing a particular scaling
factor characteristic of the set of materials under investigation. The approach allows the variability of the power law coefficient to
be quantified more clearly and the responsible influence factors to be identified.  2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.

Keywords: Aluminium alloys; Damage tolerance; Fatigue crack growth; Statistics

1. Introduction influencing metallurgical, microstructural and

One of the present development activities for future
aircraft generations is focussed on the replacement of
conventional aluminium alloys by newly developed ones
with advanced properties under the aspect of reduced
manufacturing costs of aircraft [1]. Any alloy under con-
sideration has to meet the conditions of damage toler-
ance including the materials resistance against fatigue
crack growth. On the one hand, due to the crack growth
characteristics of materials, a component spends the
major part of its life in the short crack domain and near
threshold part of the long crack domain. On the other
hand, as the detectability limit of state-of-the-art NDT
techniques for large-scale structures containing joints
and overlaps is rather in the millimeter range [2], the
power law regime of fatigue crack growth is still of con-
siderable interest. Hence, the knowledge and understand-
ing of the crack growth behaviour of a broad spectrum
of aluminium alloys in the power law regime and the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-351-463-3743; fax: +49-351-
463-3207.
E-mail address: bergner@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de (F. Bergner).
micromechanical factors are important topics in the
fields of materials development and selection for damage
tolerant design.
Fatigue crack growth data for ductile materials are
usually presented in terms of the crack growth rate,
da/dN, and the stress intensity factor range, ⌬K [3]. It
is well known that in regime B (power law regime, Paris
regime) of crack growth an empirical power law
relationship between da/dN and ⌬K [3] (Paris equation,
Eq. (1)) provides a good approximation of the majority
of experimental data.
da
⫽C(⌬K)m (1)
dN
In the original equation ⌬K denotes the nominal value
of the stress intensity factor range. C and m denote
empirical constants called power law coefficient and
Paris exponent. For several purposes modifications of
Eq. (1) have been proposed. For instance, ⌬K is to be
substituted by ⌬K/E in order to account for different
alloy systems (for a recent discussion see [2] or ⌬Keff
[4] in order to account for crack closure effects, where
E is Youngs modulus and ⌬Keff is the effective value of
the stress intensity factor range according to Elber. In

0142-1123/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 2 - 1 1 2 3 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 1 2 3 - 1
230 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239
the present paper we restrict ourselves to the consider-
ation of Eq. (1) but the generalization of the approach
to other power law type equations is straightforward.
In order to get an overview and a better understanding
of the crack growth behaviour in terms of the Paris equ-
ation for a broad spectrum of aluminium alloys as a pre-
requisite for the development and selection of damage
tolerant aluminium alloys, it is essential to analyze the
following topics:
앫 the variability of the individual C and m values of
aluminium alloys,
앫 the presence or absence of a physical interdependence
between variations of C and m,
앫 the metallurgical, microstructural and micromechan-
ical factors affecting C and m, and
앫 the relationships between crack growth characteristics
in terms of C and m and other properties, intentionally
more basic ones.
At this point it is important to take note of the contro-
versy about the correlation between C and m in the litera-
ture [5–8]. In fact, the nature of this correlation basically
affects the solution and interpretation of the results of
each one of the above mentioned topics as will be shown
in this paper. The presence of a strong correlation (high
value of the coefficient of correlation) between C and m
was observed in the early 1970s [9,10]. Data based on
the analysis of a broad set of materials are given in [11]
for steels and in [7] for steels, aluminium alloys and
other alloy systems. Tanaka [11] and others implied that
due to this correlation the crack growth curves “inter-
sect” in one point. Niccols [5] proposed that if there is
a strong correlation between C and m it should be poss-
ible to reduce the number of degrees of freedom neces-
sary to describe the crack growth behaviour in the Paris
regime by one. These views as well as the correlation
itself were commented by McCartney and Irving [6] and
by Cortie [8]. It was stated (and partly shown) that
앫 the correlation is formal and has little physical rel-
evance [6,8],
앫 the correlation is caused by the dimensional form of
Eq. (1) [6],
앫 the high coefficient of correlation is due to the logar-
ithmic data representation [8].
Even later, similar arguments were apparently misinter-
preted as to show the exclusively physical nature of the
correlation [12].
In the present paper a new approach to the correlation
between C and m is proposed. The result is a represen-
tation of crack growth data for a given set of materials
with power law coefficients being statistically inde-
pendent of the Paris exponents. This correlation-free rep-
resentation is achieved by dividing the stress intensity
factor range, ⌬K, in Eq. (1) by a scaling factor, ⌬K0,
fully determined by the original coefficients and
exponents. It will be shown how the above mentioned
statements from the literature have to be modified.
Fatigue crack growth data for a number of commercial
thin-sheet wrought aluminium alloys are presented and
discussed in terms of the proposed formalism.
2. Outline of the approach
It is well known that Eq. (1) is dimensionally incorrect
[6] in that the dimension of C is depending on the value
of m. Eq. (1) can be transformed into a dimensionally
correct form by dividing ⌬K by a certain normalization
factor (or scaling factor) ⌬Kn (Eqs. (2) and (3)):
冉 冊
da ⌬K m
⫽Cn (2)
dN ⌬Kn
Cn⫽C⌬K mn (3)
The dimension of Cn is a crack growth rate independent
of the value of m. However, the problem of the corre-
lation between C and m is not yet solved in this way.
Only by varying the value of ⌬Kn in Eq. (2) (or equival-
ently the unit of measurement of ⌬K in Eq. (1)) the coef-
ficient of correlation, r, between Cn and m can be caused
to assume any value greater than ⫺1 and less than 1, as
will be demonstrated later on the basis of the experi-
mental results. In particular, there is always a value of
⌬Kn, for which r=0. The basis for a solution is to choose
⌬Kn such that the coefficient of correlation between Cn
and m will vanish. In this way it is intended to be able
to distinguish between (metallurgical, microstructural or
micromechanical) factors affecting C directly and factors
affecting C only via their effect on m. The individual
steps of the calculation are given in Appendix A. The
result can be summarized as follows (Eqs. (4) and (5)):
If for a given set of materials ⌬K in the power law equ-
ation is divided by ⌬K0 according to Eq. (A8) then the
resulting values of the parameters C0 and m are statisti-
cally independent (r=0) for this set of materials.
da
dN
⫽C0
⌬K
冉 冊
⌬K0
m
(4)
C0⫽C⌬K m0 (5)
Dividing ⌬K by ⌬K0 in Eq. (4) is equivalent to choosing
⌬K0 as the unit of ⌬K or, from the geometric point of
view, to displacing the vertical axis of the log-log plot
of da/dN vs ⌬K from ⌬K=1 MPa m1/2 to ⌬K=⌬K0. In
order to discuss the approach in more detail it is favour-
able to use a particular set of data.
 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239
3. Experiments
For any correlation analysis the self-consistence of the
underlying set of data is important. In order to avoid
interlaboratory variations a set of own data for a number
of commercial thin-sheet wrought aluminium alloys
obtained under uniform experimental conditions is used.
Each of the alloys is heat treatable, the temper conditions
are 2024 T3, 2024 T351, 2024 T81, 2024 T851, 2524
T3, 6013 T4, 6013 T6, 6061 T6, 7075 T651, and 7475
T761 (conditions T3, T351 and T4 are natural agings,
conditions T6, T651, T761, T81 and T851 are artificial
agings). The thickness of the sheets is 1.6 mm with the
exception of 2524 T3 (2.5 mm). The material of the 2xxx
and 7xxx alloys is clad, that of the 6xxx alloys is unclad.
A number of five middle-crack tension specimens of L-
T and T-L orientation, respectively, (width 160 mm,
over-all length 400 mm) and five tensile specimens of
L and T orientation (width 20 mm, gauge length 50 mm)
have been machined for each material.
Constant amplitude fatigue crack growth measure-
ments were carried out on an Instron 8501 servo-
hydraulic testing machine at a frequency of 20 Hz
(sinusoidal waveform) in laboratory air. Stress ratio was
0.1 and maximum stress 110 MPa. The crack length
measurements are based on a PC-controlled video-optic
measurement system. From the actual numbers of cycles,
N, and corresponding crack lengths, a, crack growth
increments, da/dN, and nominal stress intensity factor
ranges, ⌬K, have been calculated according to ASTM
E647. For each measurement the values of ⌬K covered
the range from about 8 to 30 MPa m1/2. The values of
C and m have been obtained by a linear regression analy-
sis of those log(da/dN)-log(⌬K) data placed in the ⌬K
range from 10 to 25 MPa m1/2, which have been proved
to be at least a factor of 2 away from both the threshold
and the Kmax-controlled instability.
Supplementary tensile tests at a constant cross-head
speed of 1 mm/min were performed. It had been shown
before that the stress–strain curve of the present
materials is rather insensitive to the strain rate in the
range from 3.10⫺6 to 3.10⫺2 s⫺1. A self-written Delphi
code was used to calculate Youngs modulus, 0.2% offset
yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, total elongation,
and the strain-hardening exponent according to Hollo-
mon [13].
4. Results
The results of the fatigue crack growth measurements
are shown in Figs. 1 and 2 for the T-L orientations of
the alloys 2xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx (five measurements for
each alloy). For the sake of visibility the regression lines
corresponding to the power law equation have been
231
extrapolated slightly to beyond the range of fit (10 to 25
MPa m1/2).
In Table 1 the Paris exponents, m, the power law coef-
ficients, C, according to Eq. (1), the logarithms of the
power law coefficients, log(C0), according to Eq. (5) as
well as 0.2% offset yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile
strength (UTS), total elongation (TE) values and strain-
hardening exponents, n, are compiled for the investi-
gated aluminium alloys. Stress-strain curve data for the
L and T direction are attached to crack growth data for
the L-T and T-L orientation, respectively.
The calculation of the scaling factor for the corre-
lation-free representation of the power law according to
Eq. (A8) yields ⌬K0=9.76 MPa m1/2. The values of
log(C0) in Table 1 have been calculated using this value
of ⌬K0 along with Eq. (5). Fig. 3 shows the straight lines
corresponding to the Paris equation in a double-logarith-
mic plot for each one of the alloys investigated. These
straight lines have been extrapolated to beyond the range
of fit in order to better visualize the distinguished
location of ⌬K0. The minimum crack growth rate at ⌬K0
(6013 T4, T-L) is about 4.5 times smaller than the
maximum crack growth rate at ⌬K0 (7475 T761, L-T).
For the five specimens of each single material the ratio
between maximum and minimum crack growth rate at a
given ⌬K value was typically less than or of the order
of 1.5.
In Fig. 4 a scatterplot of the values of log(C) and m
according to Eq. (1) is shown for the aluminium alloys
involved in Table 1. A strong correlation between m and
log(C) values (r=⫺0.96) is present. Both slope and inter-
section of the best fit regression line are given in the
figure. This type of correlation reported in the literature
before is the starting point of the discussion in the
present investigation.
5. Discussion
5.1. Properties of the correlation-free representation
After dividing ⌬K in Eq. (1) by a scaling factor, ⌬Kn
(Eq. (2)), and determining the new power law coef-
ficients, Cn, the coefficient of correlation between
log(Cn) and m can be calculated as a function of the ⌬Kn
value chosen. This dependence is shown in Fig. 5 for
the present set of materials. As expected for general
mathematical reasons the coefficient of correlation
assumes any value greater than ⫺1 and less than 1. In
particular, for ⌬Kn=1 MPa m1/2, the value of r is the
same as in Fig. 3 (r=⫺0.96). The zero of the function,
r(⌬Kn)=0, occurs at ⌬Kn=⌬K0. The correlation is
stronger the farther away ⌬Kn from ⌬K0 is. However,
any physically meaningful dimensionless quantity must
not depend on the scaling factor (or equivalently on the
unit of measurement of ⌬K) chosen. Therefore, the mag-
232 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239

Fig. 1. Measured constant-amplitude fatigue crack growth curves for the T-L orientation of the aluminium alloys 2024 T3, T351, T81, T851 and
2524 T3 (frequency 20 Hz, laboratory air, stress ratio 0.1).

Fig. 2. Measured constant-amplitude fatigue crack growth curves for the T-L orientation of the aluminium alloys 6013 T4, T6,6061 T6,7075
T651 and 7475 T761 (frequency 20 Hz, laboratory air, stress ratio 0.1).

nitude of the coefficient of correlation cannot be a physi-
cal property of the set of alloys, it is a “formal” or
“algebraic” one. The high magnitude of the coefficient
of correlation between log(C) and m (Fig. 4) is a conse-
quence of both the algebraic structure of Eq. (1), and
the fact that the unit of measurement of ⌬K (1 MPa m1/2)
is far away from ⌬K0. The scatterplot of log(C0) (after
scaling with ⌬K0) and m is shown in Fig. 6. In fact, now
there is no correlation between both crack growth para-
meters.
 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239 233

Table 1
Results of tensile tests and fatigue crack growth measurements

Alloy m Ca log(C0)b YS [MPa] UTS [MPa] TE [%] n

2024 T3 L-T 3.28 4.14E-008 ⫺4.138 330 442 16.00 0.135

2024 T3 T-L 2.85 1.54E-007 ⫺3.993 283 425 25.35 0.145
2024 T351 L-T 2.92 1.08E-007 ⫺4.078 340 448 16.43 0.134
2024 T351 T-L 2.73 1.89E-007 ⫺4.023 293 436 18.47 0.154
2024 T81 L-T 3.46 5.29E-008 ⫺3.854 387 434 5.83 0.056
2024 T81 T-L 4.15 1.17E-008 ⫺3.826 387 425 4.93 0.050
2024 T851 L-T 3.10 1.16E-007 ⫺3.869 413 450 6.51 0.050
2024 T851 T-L 3.75 2.31E-008 ⫺3.926 416 449 5.70 0.043
2524 T3 L-T 2.54 2.07E-007 ⫺4.168 325 455 19.11 0.149
2524 T3 T-L 2.49 2.48E-007 ⫺4.142 295 443 21.23 0.156
6013 T4 L-T 2.47 1.74E-007 ⫺4.316 224 341 20.85 0.185
6013 T4 T-L 2.55 1.35E-007 ⫺4.347 202 336 25.35 0.190
6013 T6 L-T 2.04 1.43E-006 ⫺3.826 370 392 9.66 0.044
6013 T6 T-L 2.20 8.77E-007 ⫺3.881 344 385 8.63 0.051
6061 T6 L-T 1.82 2.12E-006 ⫺3.873 297 336 12.23 0.075
6061 T6 T-L 2.01 1.39E-006 ⫺3.868 286 334 13.57 0.077
7075 T651 L-T 3.02 1.47E-007 ⫺3.845 529 552 12.63 0.053
7075 T651 T-L 3.56 4.31E-008 ⫺3.844 513 577 12.37 0.059
7475 T761 L-T 2.05 1.88E-006 ⫺3.698 434 494 10.82 0.068
7475 T761 T-L 2.16 1.36E-006 ⫺3.726 435 495 11.10 0.069

a
da/dN in mm/cycle, ⌬K in MPa m1/2.
b
C0 in mm/cycle.

Fig. 3. Overview of the straight lines, log(da/dN) vs ⌬K, fitted to the measuring points for the materials investigated. The straight lines have
been extrapolated to beyond the range of fit in order to show that the scatter of the growth rates at ⌬K0 is minimum.

Remember that the value of ⌬K0 had been obtained
from the condition of a vanishing coefficient of corre-
lation between log(Cn) and m for the given set of alloys.
As shown in Appendix B there are some more useful
properties of ⌬K0:
앫 The negative of the logarithm of ⌬K0 is equal to the
slope of the regression line of log(C) vs. m as con-
firmed by the slope in Fig. 4. This property was util-
ized in the literature [11] in order to calculate the
location of the “point of intersection” of the fatigue
234 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239

Fig. 4. Scatterplot of the values of log10(C) and m for the materials investigated. The slope of the fitted straight line (⫺0.99) is equal to ⫺log10(⌬K0).

Fig. 5. Dependence of the coefficient of correlation, r, between log10(Cn) and m on the scaling factor, ⌬Kn, for the given set of materials.

crack growth curves. However, the property of a van-
ishing coefficient of correlation was apparently not
realized before.
앫 ⌬K0 is the location, where the standard deviation of
the logarithms of the crack growth rates is minimum,
but in general this standard deviation does not vanish.
Therefore, the corresponding straight lines do not
intersect in one point as indicated in the literature.
5.2. Variability of C and m
From Table 1 it can be seen that the Paris exponents
of the investigated alloys vary between 1.82 (6061 T6,
 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239
Fig. 6. Scatterplot of the values of log10(C0) and m for the materials investigated. Note the vanishing coefficient of correlation due to scaling ⌬K
with ⌬K0. Points for naturally and artificially aged alloys form clusters.
L-T) and 4.15 (2024 T81, T-L), the arithmetic average
being about 3. After transforming into the correlation-
free representation the m values do not change. The orig-
inal C values scatter by a factor of about 200. However,
this variability is mainly a consequence of the variations
of the individual m values transferred to the C values
due to the algebraic correlation between C and m. The
scatterband of the transformed coefficients, C0(=da/dN
at ⌬K0), covers a factor of 4.5. This is at least three times
more than the observed scattering from test to test for
one single material. In our opinion the view that metal-
lurgical and microstructural factors do not essentially
affect crack growth rates in regime B (“continuum mech-
anics regime”) has to be modified for aluminium alloys.
5.3. Physical interdependence of C and m
As already shown here and before [6,8] there is a
strong interdependence of C and m, but this dependence
is a formal consequence of the algebraic structure of Eq.
(1). Within the framework of the present approach and
without additional information it is impossible to dis-
tinguish between a possibly existing physical depen-
dence and the algebraic correlation, However, some
additional information is available:
앫 The value of ⌬K0 for the present set of alloys (9.76
MPa m1/2) is inside the physically meaningful range
and also inside the power law range of ⌬K. The sig-
nificance of the location of ⌬K0, also called point of
235
“intersection” or pivot point in the literature, was dis-
cussed in [7].
앫 The individual alloys are not randomly distributed in
the scatterplot log(C0) vs m (Fig. 6). A clustering of
the naturally aged alloys and the artificially aged
alloys can be observed. For the naturally aged alloys
the values of C0 are smaller and scatter more, the
values of m scatter less than for the artificially aged
alloys. These relations have already been visible in
the arrangement of the extrapolated straight lines in
Fig. 3, but they are not so clearly seen in the scat-
terplot log(C) vs m (Fig. 4), where both groups of
data points overlap.
Taking all alloys together the number of degrees of free-
dom cannot be reduced due to the significant scatter of
both log(C0) and m. More data is necessary in order to
decide whether a reduction of the number of degrees of
freedom is possible for the subsets of naturally aged
alloys or artificially aged alloys.
5.4. Factors affecting C
In terms of C the identification of any influencing fac-
tor is difficult, because the same factor may affect m as
well and, due to the algebraic correlation between C and
m, mask the actual effect on C. In terms of C0 the effects
of any influencing factor on C0 and m are independent.
Therefore, possible effects on C0 can be investigated
separately without reference to m. For factors affecting
236 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239
m the present approach brings about nothing new. In the
present case the aging conditions (natural or artificial
aging) have already been identified as a remarkable tech-
nological factor affecting C0. It is well known that type,
degree of coherence and sequence of precipitates in heat-
treatable aluminium alloys depend on the aging con-
ditions [14]. Therefore, the observed aging effect on C0
may be expected to be a manifestation of microstructural
effects. A more detailed investigation is beyond the
scope of this paper.
5.5. Relationships between C0 and other properties
The same arguments as in Section 5.4 are also valid
for correlations between C and other properties. A con-
siderable part of the most advanced models of fatigue
crack growth refers to LCF properties [15]. Therefore it
would be instructive to analyze relations between LCF
properties and log(C0) in the case of heat-treatable alu-
minium alloys. However, so far no set of LCF data that
fits the present set of crack growth data sufficiently well
have been available for the authors. For the purpose of
demonstration of the potential capability of the present
approach tensile test properties are related to log(C0)
below. The many problems inherent in relating proper-
ties from monotonic tests with crack growth data are
well known. On the other hand, one should also keep in
mind that this type of relation has not been analyzed
before in terms of log(C0).
In Fig. 7 the values of log(C0) and 0.2% offset yield
strength, YS, listed in Table 1 are shown in a scatterplot.
There is a tendency for an increase of log(C0) with
Fig. 7. Scatterplot of the values of log(C0) and yield strength for the materials investigated.
increasing yield strength, i.e. the crack growth curve of
an alloy with a higher yield strength tends to be shifted
towards higher growth rates. The coefficient of corre-
lation is 0.73, it has been proved to be significantly dif-
ferent from 0 by means of a statistical test [16], i. e.
yield strength and fatigue crack growth rate (in terms of
log(C0)) have some influence factors in common. In
other words, the yield strength explains about 53% (r2
times 100%) of the variance of log(C0). A scatterplot of
log(C0) and the strain-hardening exponent, n, is
presented in Fig. 8. It is observed that crack growth
curves of alloys with higher strain-hardening exponents
tend to be shifted to lower growth rates. The correlation,
r=⫺0.89, is even stronger than the one with the yield
strength. Apparently, there are microstructural factors
controlling both strain-hardening capacity during mono-
tonic loading and the damage process in the cyclic plas-
tic zone of the fatigue crack in common. The strain-hard-
ening exponent explains about 79% of the variance of
log(C0). An interesting fact is the marked separation of
the naturally and artificially aged alloys with respect to
both n and log(C0) in the scatterplot of n and log(C0)
(Fig. 8), whereas the naturally and artificially aged alloys
are overlapping with respect to m, log(C) (Fig. 4) and
YS (Fig. 7).
6. Conclusions
1. For a given set of materials the algebraic correlation
between the coefficient and the exponent of the power
law of fatigue crack growth in the Paris regime can
 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239 237

Fig. 8. Scatterplot of the values of log(C0) and strain-hardening exponent, n, for the materials investigated showing marked clustering of naturally
and artificially aged alloys.

be suppressed by means of scaling of the stress inten-
sity factor range. The scaling factor, ⌬K0, is determ-
ined by the original m and C values of the set of
materials. At ⌬K0 the scatter of the logarithms of the
crack growth rates of the individual materials is mini-
mum.
2. For the present set of commercial aluminium alloys
the scaling factor, ⌬K0, is about 10 MPa m1/2. The
variability of the coefficients of the scaled power law,
C0, or, equivalently, the variability of the crack
growth rates at ⌬K0 covers a factor of 4.5, i.e. both
m and C0 are independent and essential crack
growth parameters.
3. On the basis of the proposed approach factors affect-
ing C0 (e.g. aging conditions) as well as properties
being related to C0 (e.g. strain-hardening exponent)
can be identified. More alloys and other (e.g. cyclic)
properties should be included in the analysis.
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Condition for a vanishing coefficient
of correlation
The starting point is the Paris equation (Eq. (1)). For
the purpose of abbreviation the following notation is
introduced: x=log(⌬K), y=log(da/dN). “log” denotes the
decadic logarithm, but in principle, the natural logarithm
might also be used. The geometric representation of the
Paris equation is a straight line:
y⫽log(C)⫹mx (A1)
According to [17] a normal distribution is characteristic
of both m and log(C). For a material j (j=1,…, k) of a
given set of k materials let mj and Dj=log(Cj) be the Paris
exponent and the logarithm of the power law coefficient,
respectively. mj and Dj represent a set of straight lines
y⫽Dj ⫹mj x (A2)
Let r(m, D) be the linear coefficient of correlation
between the values of mj and Dj=log(Cj) for the k
materials under investigation.

The research was supported within the Aviation

冘 j⫽1,k
(mj −m)(Dj −D)
r(m,D)⫽ (A3)
冪冘 冘
Research Programme of the German Federal Govern-
ment under contract No. 20W9501. The aluminium (mj −m) 2
(Dj −D) 2

alloys were provided by DaimlerChrysler Aerospace
Airbus GmbH, Bremen. The tensile tests have been per-
formed by Ms. Ruth Bläsner, Dresden. The critical read-
ing of the manuscript by Dr. Gerhard Tempus, Bremen,
is gratefully acknowledged.
j⫽1,k j⫽1,k
In Eq. (A3) and in the following equations the dash on
top of a term denotes the arithmetic average with respect
to j. Scaling with a certain ⌬Kn in Eq. (1) is equivalent
to transforming x into x⬘=x⫺xn and any Dj into
238 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239

D⬘j =Dj +mj xn, Eq. (A4), where xn=log(⌬Kn). We are look- of log(C0j) and mj are uncorrelated for the given set of
ing for that xn=x0 (or, equivalently, ⌬Kn=⌬K0), for which materials. The logarithmic form of Eq. (A11) is:

冘 (mj −m)(D⬘j −D⬘) log(C0)⫽log(C)⫹mlog(⌬K0) (A12)

⫽0
j⫽1,k
r(m,D⬘)⫽ (A4)
冪冘 j⫽1,k
(mj −m)2 冘 (D⬘j −D⬘)2
j⫽1,k
Appendix B. Linear regression analysis of log(C) vs
The above equation is valid, if and only if the nominator m
is vanishing and the denominator is not. The latter means
that not all Paris exponents, mj, are equal to each other As mentioned in the introduction, the values of log(C)
and not all power law coefficients, C⬘j , are equal to each and m of a set of materials for the original Paris equation
other for any xn. If this is true, using the definition of (without scaling) are strongly interrelated. Due to this
D⬘j we obtain the following condition: correlation a regression analysis of log(C) vs m can be

冘
j⫽1,k
(mj ⫺m)[Dj ⫹mj x0⫺(D⫹mj x0)]⫽0 (A5)
performed [8]. The slope, B̂, of the regression line of
log(C) with respect to m
log(C)⫽Â⫹B̂m (A13)
Rearranging the terms in the square brackets of the right
hand side of Eq. (A5) gives: is obtained by fulfilling the least-squares minimization

冘
condition:

j⫽1,k
(mj ⫺m)[Dj ⫺D⫹x0(mj ⫺m)]⫽0 (A6)
冘 [log(Cj )⫺(A⫹Bmj )]2→min (A14)

冘
j⫽1,k
(mj −m)(Dj −D)
冘 (mj −m)[log(Cj )−log(C)]
x0⫽⫺
冘
j⫽1,k
(A7)
冘
j⫽1,k
(mj −m)2 B̂⫽ (A15)
j⫽1,k
(mj −m)2
j⫽1,k
This is the solution defined by the condition of a van-
ishing linear coefficient of correlation between m and Comparison of Eqs. (A7) and (A15) provides the result:
log(C). It had already been assumed that not all mj are B̂⫽⫺x0⫽⫺log(⌬K0) (A16)
equal to each other. Therefore, the denominator in Eq.
(A7) is always greater than 0. In terms of C and ⌬K The slope, B̂, of the regression line of log(C) with
instead of D and X, Eq. (A7) reads: respect to m is the negative of the logarithm of the sca-
ling factor, ⌬K0, for the correlation-free power law rep-
冘
j⫽1,k
(mj−m)log(Cj/Cg)
resentation. Furthermore, from Eqs. (A12), (A13) and
⌬K0⫽10−
冘
j⫽1,k
(mj−m)2 (A8) (A16):
Â⫽log(C0) (A17)
where Cg denotes the geometric average of the Cj
The intersection, Â, of the regression line of log(C) with

冉 冊
1
k respect to m is equal to the arithmetic average of the
Cg⫽ P Cj (A9) logarithms of the coefficients in the correlation-free
j⫽1,k
power law representation. By substituting Eqs. (A16)
and ⌬K0 is expressed in the same unit as ⌬K. Conse- and (A17) into the minimization condition Eq. (A14) the
quently, a correlation-free representation of the Paris law result is obtained that the scatter of the (logarithms of
for a given set of materials, Eq. (A10), can be obtained the) crack growth rates of the set of materials is mini-
by representing the measuring data in terms of C and m mum at the stress intensity factor range equal to ⌬K0.
according to Eq. (1), calculating ⌬K0 according to Eq.
(A8), scaling the measured ⌬K with ⌬K0, and calculating
the new power law coefficient, C0, via Eq. (A11): References
da
dN
⫽C0
⌬K
⌬K0冉 冊 m
(A10) [1] Rendigs K-H. Aluminium structures used in aerospace — status
and prospects. Materials Science Forum 1997;242:11–24.
[2] Paris PC. Fracture mechanics and fatigue: a historical perspective.
C0⫽C⌬K m0 (A11) Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures
1998;21:535–40.
The values of m will not be affected. The natural unit [3] Paris PC. A rational analytic theory of fatigue. The Trend in
of C0 is a length (per cycle). Per definition, the values Engineering at the University of Washington 1961;13(1):9–14.
 F. Bergner, G. Zouhar / International Journal of Fatigue 22 (2000) 229–239 239

[4] Elber W. The Significance of Fatigue Crack Closure. ASTM STP [11] Tanaka K. A correlation of ⌬Kth-value with the exponent, m, in
486, 1971:230–42. the equation of fatigue crack growth for various steels. Int Jnl
[5] Niccolls EH. A correlation for fatigue crack growth rate. Scripta Fracture 1979;15(1):57–68.
Metallurgica 1976;10:295–8. [12] Toth L, Krasowsky AJa. Fracture as a result of self-organised
[6] McCartney LN, Irving PE. Comments on: “A correlation for damage process. Jnl of Materials Processing Technology
fatigue crack growth rate”. Scripta Metallurgica 1995;53:441–51.
1977;11(3):181–3. [13] Hollomon JH. Tensile deformation. Trans AIME
[7] Iost A, Lesage J. On the existence of a pivot point for stage II 1945;162:268–90.
fatigue crack growth. Engineering Fracture Mechanics [14] Smith WF. Structure and properties of engineering alloys. New
1990;36(4):585–96. York: McGraw-Hill, 1981.
[8] Cortie MB. The irrepressible relationship between the Paris law [15] Ellyin F. Fatigue damage, crack growth and life prediction. Lon-
parameters. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 1991;40(3):681–2. don: Chapman and Hall, 1997.
[9] Hickerson JP, Hertzberg RW. The role of mechanical properties [16] Sachs L. Angewandte Statistik. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Ver-
in low-stress fatigue crack propagation. Metallurgical Trans- lag, 1997.
actions A 1972;3A:179–89. [17] Cavallini M, Iacoviello F. A statistical analysis of fatigue crack
[10] Kitagawa H. Jnl Japanese Society Mechanical Engineers growth in a 2091 Al-Cu-Li alloy. Int Jnl Fatigue 1995;17:135–9.
1972;75:1068–80 (in Japanese).