We study the fatigue fracture of disordered materials by means of computer simulations of a discrete element model. We extend a two-dimensional fracture model to capture the microscopic mechanisms relevant for fatigue, and we simulate the diametric compression of a disc shape specimen under a constant external force. The model allows to follow the development of the fracture process on the macro- and micro-level varying the relative influence of the mechanisms of damage accumulation over the load history and healing of microcracks. As a specific example we consider recent experimental results on the fatigue fracture of asphalt. Our numerical simulations show that for intermediate applied loads the lifetime of the specimen presents a power law behavior. Under the effect of healing, more prominent for small loads compared to the tensile strength of the material, the lifetime of the sample increases and a fatigue limit emerges below which no macroscopic failure occurs. The numerical results are in a good qualitative agreement with the experimental findings.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0610080,
title = {Computer simulation of fatigue under diametrical compression},
author = {H. A. Carmona and F. Kun and J. S. Andrade and H. J. Herrmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0610080},
year = {2009}
}