An application of the weight function technique to inclined surface cracks under rolling contact fatigue, assessment and parametric analysis

► Weight function application to the inclined surface RCF problem. ► Fluid pressurization effect on the mode I and mode II stress intensity factors. ► Validation with literature data and proposed FE model. ► Parametric analysis of the inclined surface crack problem. ► Investigation of the residual stress closure effect. This paper proposes the use of the weight function technique to calculate mode I and mode II stress intensity factors for a shallow surface crack typical of rolling contact fatigue, that experiences the detrimental effects of the pressurization of lubricating fluid. The weight function technique was able to easily take the pressurization into account just by adding the pressure term to the nominal stress component which is then integrated. The crack closure was also modeled by introducing an assumption for the distribution of the contact pressure on the crack face. The results were validated with the literature data and finite element analyses. Parametric simulations were performed showing that mode I and mode II stress intensity factors strongly depend on the crack angle with respect to the surface, and almost linearly on the size of the crack. In addition, the proposed algorithm was able to include any residual stress distribution. Compressive residual stress hinders pressurization and promotes the crack closure. This effect was parametrically investigated and it was found that cracks, and especially small ones, can even remain closed, with the opening effect of the pressurization completely suppressed.