ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the phase of machine-part analysis that confronts the problems of fatigue failure. The concern with life expectancy of machine parts goes back to the beginning of industrial revolution (the middle of nineteenth century) and, in particular, with the advent of railroads in central Europe. The first known investigators concerned with fatigue phenomena were designers of axles for locomotives and wagons, whose objective was to analyze the machine parts operating under fluctuating load to prevent fatigue failure. Woehler’s experiments with axles were the first known laboratory tests to derive and quantitatively define the limits of fatigue.
