Abstract
In this paper, we studied the fatigue behavior of a crack emanating from v-notched aluminum (7075-T6) plate. To analyze the fatigue life of notched specimens we applied variable cyclic block-loading sequences, including increasing (L-H) and decreasing (H-L) blocks. We also analyzed the effect of the stress ratio(R) on the fatigue life of aluminum specimen subjected to stepped variable cyclic loading. The obtained results show that the effect of stress ratio on the fatigue life is significant. The patch repair efficiency is found to he limited for increasing (L-H) loading blocks but is significantly high for decreasing (ELL) cyclic loading blocks. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.