Fatigue Damage in Wood Under Pulsating Multiaxial-Combined Loading

Abstract

A fatigue test was performed under axial-torsion combined loading, with the aim of investigating fatigue damage in wood under multiaxial stresses. This research particularly focused on the energy loss captured during fatigue tests and the fatigue limit for wood. Air-dried samples of Japanese cypress were used for the tests. An electrohydraulic servomachine that could apply axial and torsional loads simultaneously was used for the fatigue tests. An axial load was applied in the fiber direction (along L), and torque was applied around the axis in the same direction as L. A pulsating triangular axial load was applied in the longitudinal direction at 1 Hz while each specimen was also simultaneously subjected to a twisting moment at the same phase. On the basis of the experimental results of the fatigue tests, energy loss was obtained from the stress-strain curve at each loading cycle and examined precisely in relation to the number of loading cycles and combined stress states. The energy loss per cycle in the dominant stress was large and increased gradually toward fatigue failure. The stress level was so high that the energy loss per cycle was extremely large. In the relationship between cumulative energy loss and the number of loading cycles, the cumulative energy loss was so large that the fatigue life was extremely long. The cumulative energy loss for shear in the compression group was larger than that in the tension group. The mean energy loss per cycle for the fatigue limit was also presumed from the relationships between mean energy loss per cycle, stress amplitude, and fatigue life, and was estimated to be about 10 kJ/m³/cycle, as determined on the basis of the equivalent stress principle. That is, the fatigue life will be infinite when the energy loss per cycle is below 10 kJ/m³/cycle.