The Effect of the Free Surface on the Singular Stress Field at the Fatigue Crack Front

Description of stress singularity in the vicinity of a free surface is presented. Its presence causes the retardation of the fatigue crack growth in that region and fatigue crack is being curved. Numerical model is used to study dependence of the stress singularity exponent on Poisson’s ratio. Estimated values are compared to those already published. Experimentally measured angles of fatigue crack on SENB specimens confirm the relation between Poisson’s ratio and the angle between crack front and free surface.