Comparison between fatigue crack growth modelled by continous dislocation distributions and discrete dislocations
Short fatigue cracks are known to have a growth behaviour different from that of long cracks, the latter well predicted by linear elastic fracture mechanics. Short cracks can grow at high rates at load levels well below the threshold value for long cracks, before entering into the long crack region, or arrest and become nonpropagating cracks. The growth behaviour of short cracks is strongly influe