Random vibration fatigue loading occurs in automotive, aerospace, offshore and indeed in many structural and machine components. The analysis of these types of problems is often carried out using either time domain or frequency domain methods. Time domain rainflow counting together with Miner's linear damage accumulation assumption is widely accepted as a method of rationalising stress amplitude and mean stress from random fatigue loading and the damage caused to the component. Frequency domain methods provide a faster alternative for the analysis of the same problem but the results are generally conservative compared to those obtained using time domain methods. This paper presents an artificial neural network (ANN) machine learning approach for the prediction of damage caused by random fatigue loading. The results obtained for ergodic Gaussian stationary stochastic loading is very encouraging. The method embodies rapid analysis as well as better agreement with rainflow counting method than existing frequency domain methods.
The effect of mean stress is a significant factor in design for fatigue, especially under high cycle service conditions. The incorporation of mean stress effect in random loading fatigue problems using the frequency domain method is still a challenge. The problem is due to the fact that all cycle by cycle mean stress effects are aggregated during the Fourier transform process into a single zero frequency content. Artificial neural network (ANN) has great scope for non-linear generalization. This paper presents artificial neural network methods for including the effect of mean stress in the frequency domain approach for predicting fatigue damage. The materials considered in this work are metallic alloys. The results obtained present the ANN method as a viable approach to make fatigue damage predictions including the effect of mean stress. Greater resolution was obtained with the ANN method than with other available methods.
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