TY - JOUR A1 - Zerbst, Uwe A1 - Madia, Mauro T1 - Fracture mechanics based assessment of the fatigue strength: approach for the determination of the initial crack size N2 - In a number of previous papers, the authors have proposed a model for fracture mechanics based prediction of the S-N characteristics of metallic components with large microstructural defects. Here, an extension to materials that do not show large defects onto the fracture surfaces is provided. In such cases, an approach based on a so-called cyclic R-curve analysis is proposed for the determination of the initial flaw size, which has to be used in the calculation of fatigue crack propagation. The principle is explained and demonstrated by a first application to a welded joint. KW - Fatigue strength KW - Weldments KW - Short cracks KW - Initial flaw size KW - Cyclic R-curve PY - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ffe.12288 SN - 1460-2695 SN - 0160-4112 SN - 8756-758X VL - 38 IS - 9 SP - 1066 EP - 1075 PB - Blackwell CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-33838 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -