Abstract
A numerical analysis has been done to investigate the effects of different overload conditions on crack propagation behavior of AH32 steel. The tensile overload ratios, overload-underload, underload-overload and underload are investigated in this study. The residual stress distribution in the region near the crack tip under different overload ratios and overload conditions are all the results of plastic deformation of the material near the crack tip during fatigue crack propagation, which shows that applying tensile overload postpone the crack growth, while underload promote the crack growth. Furthermore, it is also observed that the crack closure level shows a fast increase with the increase of overload ratio. Finally, the mechanism of residual stress at the crack tip and the mechanism of plastic deformation at the crack tip controlling the transient crack growth behavior under variable amplitude loading are essentially the same.