Issue 38

R. Shravan Kumar et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 38 (2016) 19-25; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.38.03 22 these regions could be correlated with the instabilities observed in the crack growth curves as the regions with localized plastic strains in the wake correspond to the cycles that have low crack growth rate while the cycles having fast crack growth rate resulted in virtually no plastic strain in the wake. Figure 2 : a) Fatigue crack growth curve (1-8 KN) b) Damage evolution in the elements ahead of crack tip. Figure 3 : Stress contour (  yy ) ahead of the crack tip. Figure 4 : Contour of equivalent plastic strain.