Energy Versus Stress Theories for Combined Stress—A Fatigue Experiment Using a Rotating Disk

Abstract

An experiment is described in which the strain energy at the critical location for fatigue failure is maintained constant while the stresses on a given plane of the material at the same location are caused to fluctuate. Apparatus developed to produce this condition consisted of a circular disk with a wide flanged rim which was loaded along a diameter by means of pivot-pad bearings. The disk was then rotated under a constant load to produce the desired fluctuation in stresses at the center of the disk while maintaining a constant strain energy at the center. The fact that fatigue cracks were developed in the region of constant strain energy was considered to indicate that a concept of a fluctuating strain energy as a basic theory of failure by fatigue under combined stresses is not tenable.