ABSTRACT
A survey is presented of recent studies in the theory of fatigue crack growth in solids with random properties. Various sources of randomness are discussed including batch-to-batch, specimen-to-specimen and within-specimen scatter of parameters characterizing mechanical properties. The theory of fatigue crack growth developed earlier by the author is applied to study the influence of various factors on fatigue crack growth rate using a direct numerical simulation procedure. Special attention is paid to the influence of initial conditions on the crack growth process, and its significance is demonstrated with a number of numerical examples.
