On the multiaxial fatigue assessment of complex three-dimensional stress concentrators

•The fatigue assessment of components containing complex notches is investigated.•Our approach is successful in designing 3D notches against fatigue.•Our approach correctly takes into account the scale effect in multiaxial fatigue. This paper assesses and quantifies the detrimental effects of complex tri-dimensional notches subjected to uniaxial and multiaxial fatigue loading. A number of experimental results taken from the technical literature and generated by testing specimens containing complex geometrical features were reanalysed using a critical distance/plane method. The investigated notched samples were tested under uniaxial and multiaxial constant amplitude load histories, considering also the effects of non-zero mean stresses as well as non-proportional loading. The common feature of the considered notched geometries was that the position of the critical location changed as the degree of multiaxiality of the applied loading varied. The relevant linear-elastic stress fields in the vicinity of the crack initiation points were calculated by the Finite Element method and subsequently post-processed using the Modified Wöhler Curve Method in conjunction with the Theory of Critical Distances (the latter theory being applied in the form of the Point Method). This validation exercise confirms the accuracy and reliability of our multiaxial fatigue life assessment technique, which can be efficiently used in situations of practical interest by directly post-processing the relevant linear-elastic stress fields calculated with commercial Finite Element software packages.