Abstract
The main stress for the most vehicle components is th e fatigue stress. Aspects regarding the life prediction for the vehicle components on experimental research or by computation are very important for the engineers on the international plan. The utilization of modern methods to estimate the life prediction, by computation or on experimental hold permits the shortening of the conceptual phase and experimental research. An important area in reliability is fatigue, i. e. the phenomenon that materials, mostly metals, are ageing or degrading due to time-varying external loading conditions. The fatigue phenomenon is a very complicated process that is often defined as crack initiation and crack growth. Initiation of cracks usual takes place at the surface at locations where the stress concentration is high. It is a common opinion among reliability engineers that failures of mechanical components in most cases are caused by fatigue. Both the material properties and the dynamical load process are important for fatigue evaluation, and should in most realistic cases be modeled as random phenomena. In order to relate a load sequence to the damage it inflicts to the material, the so called rainflow cycle method is often used, together with a damage accumulation model. The damage can then be related to the fatigue life.
Keywords: life prediction, fatigue, stress concentration, dynamical load, rainflow.