Fatigue Failure in Structural Elements: Axial, Shear & Torsional Loads

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of fatigue failure in structural elements subjected to axial, shear, and torsional loads. Participants explore the nature of stresses in these scenarios, particularly focusing on whether shear stresses can be considered as having alternating stresses, especially in the context of fatigue analysis for power transmission shafts.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant asserts that axial, shear, and torsional loads produce constant stresses that do not alternate, while bending loads do produce alternating stresses that can lead to fatigue failure.
  • Another participant questions the reliability of the initial claim and emphasizes the importance of understanding how to calculate loads and stresses, suggesting that basic learning from textbooks is essential.
  • A participant provides a counterexample involving the fuselage of commercial airplanes, arguing that it experiences fatigue from pressurization cycles despite being subjected to constant pressure loads.
  • Discussion includes the effects of high RPM shafts that may experience bending and shear loads due to various factors, indicating that these loads can lead to varying stresses.
  • One participant expresses uncertainty about the validity of their understanding regarding shear stresses and seeks academic references to support their claims.
  • Another participant suggests that if shear forces are constant in the rotating frame of reference, then shear stresses would also be constant; otherwise, they would be alternating.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus. There are competing views regarding the nature of shear stresses and their role in fatigue failure, with some participants supporting the idea that shear stresses do not alternate, while others provide counterexamples and challenge this notion.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights the complexity of fatigue analysis and the need for clarity regarding the definitions and conditions under which stresses are considered alternating. There are unresolved assumptions about the behavior of shear stresses in dynamic loading scenarios.

Junior19
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TL;DR
Shear Stresses
"The stresses acting on a structural element subjected to axial, shear or torsional loads are constant and do not change sign throughout the loading cycle. Therefore, alternating stresses, which cause fatigue, do not occur in these cases. On the other hand, in a beam subjected to bending load, the stresses vary in magnitude and direction during a loading cycle, thus producing alternating stresses that can cause fatigue failure."

Does anyone know of any academic paragraph that supports this idea? specifically the part related to shear stresses. Thanks
 
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Welcome to PF.

Maybe we need some context here.
Where is that quote from, a link or a reference would help.
 
Hello and thank you for replying. I am doing a research project related to power transmission shafts and unlike others, I don't want to ignore the shear stresses generated by the forces acting on the shaft. I have already done the analysis in terms of static stresses and deformations, however, in the dynamic stresses (fatigue), I do not have much information related to the shear stresses I mentioned. In my opinion, axial, torsional and shear stresses have a constant behavior, in terms of direction, so their alternating stress is equal to 0, however, this is not the case of bending forces, which do present alternating stresses. In the books, all this is mentioned, except the part related to shear stresses, of which nothing is mentioned, so I am not sure if what I think is correct. That is why I consulted with Chat GPT, I gave him all the context and what I think, and he confirmed it with the paragraph I put at the top (it is as he wrote it), however, I think it is something generated from his knowledge, since he could not give me a specific reference of the book or article from where he extracted it. I think it is not appropriate to cite GPT chat in research projects, because it is something new, and for all this I am looking for an academic reference to support this idea that shear stresses do not have alternating stresses, although its magnitude does vary, but not its direction. That is all.
 
The ChatGPT answer is technobabble. And a perfect example of why ChatGPT is not a reliable source for engineering and physics questions.

You need to learn for yourself how to calculate loads, calculate stresses, and what loading conditions cause fatigue. After that, you learn how to calculate fatigue stresses. This is all basic learning that is found in textbooks on strength of materials and machine design.

This is an area where you need to learn the basics. Attempting to cheat using ChatGPT will just get you into trouble.
 
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Welcome, @Junior19 !

Take for example the fatigue that the fuselage of commercial airplanes suffers, only by cycles of pressurization.
That refutes the first part of the idea's statement.
The tubular fuselage is a structural element subjected to pressure load that does not change sign throughout the loading cycle.

Regarding a high rpm's shaft transferring constant torque, but suffering bending deformation and shear loads due to non-balanced masses, misalignment of bearings, couplings, etc., is a rotating beam subjected to constant bending and shearing loads.

As the cross section of that beam rotates about its neutral axis, those stresses vary in magnitude and direction in a rapid cycling manner.
That confirms the second part of the idea's statement.

I am sure that Internet searches could bring back to you a lot of research work on this problem.
The only reference that I know and can share is both chapters IX of Timoshenko's books (parts 1 and 2) on Strength of Materials.

Please, see:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw8...Zjg/edit?resourcekey=0-GEkdRBIXq66OFnCBnteVSw

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw8...Y28/view?resourcekey=0-NDWpBrvRWodj29L7tZAt2Q
 
Last edited:
Junior19 said:
I don't want to ignore the shear stresses generated by the forces acting on the shaft.
If you have specific forces in mind, then it should be obvious if they are rotating with the shaft or not. If the shear forces are constant in the rotating rest frame of the shaft (magnitude & direction), then the shear stresses are constant too. Otherwise they are alternating.
 

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