The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (B&PV) Committee, Subgroup on Design Analysis, established the Task Force on Elastic-Plastic Finite Element Analysis (TF-EP-FEA) to investigate how to use EP-FEA to assess ASME B&PV Code stress limits. The present paper presents results of an investigation by the TF-EP-FEA to apply EP-FEA to predict cyclic life of double-edge notched fatigue specimens. EP-FEA results are compared to fatigue test results for two notch root radii in 304 stainless steel double-edge notched flat bars loaded in cyclic tension-compression. An analytical exercise was defined such that several TF-EP-FEA members started from the same problem definition and used the ASME Code and an EP-FEA program to compute the cyclic life of the double-edge notched fatigue specimens. The results and techniques used by the investigators are compared and conclusions reached regarding which method correlated best for this problem. Commonalties in the approaches are listed that may be used to develop general guidelines for use of elastic-plastic FEA to show satisfaction of the fatigue design rules of the ASME B&PV Code.

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