Quantitative Thermographic Methodology for fatigue life assessment in a multiscale energy dissipation framework

Energy dissipation is an important aspect in fatigue that is closely linked to the microstructure evolution across different length scales. In this work, a novel energy-based method is developed that takes advantage of the shakedown theory and multiscale concept. A key thermal parameter pertinent to dissipation rate is proposed as a measure of the fatigue resistance. It leads to an effective way to evaluate the S–N curve. Experimental verification is conducted through the fatigue tests on different materials and structures. Excellent predictions are achieved by comparing to the traditional time-consuming procedure.