This paper on "Fatigue Due to Wide-Band Vibration" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on The Evolution of Product Simulation From Established Methods to Virtual Testing & Prototyping - 24-28 April 2001, The Grand Hotel, Lake Como, Italy.

Introduction to Paper

The costs to industry due to premature failure due to fatigue are enormous, with effects due to vibration being both extremely common and difficult to treat. This paper reports advances in predicting the effect of vibration on fatigue durability.
Techniques for estimating the life of a component under wide-band excitation specified by a Power Spectral Density of stress have been improved considerably in recent years. Commercial software using the Dirlik solution is in regular use, often linked to Finite Element modules. A valuable extension is to identify how damage potential is distributed within the PSD. Two benefits can be gained. Engineers using FEA at the design stage could then directly modify those features of a structure whose frequency response is responsible for damage. Validation testing is accelerated since it becomes possible to truncate a complex service PSD to a more simple form that retains damaging constituents.