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Topic · Mechanics of Materials

Fatigue and fracture mechanics

Fatigue and fracture mechanics is a research topic within Mechanics of Materials. Science Explorer counts 50k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers advances in fatigue mechanics and fracture analysis, including topics such as fatigue crack closure, multiaxial fatigue criterion, thermographic methodology for fatigue limit determination, microstructure-sensitive modeling of fatigue crack formation, and probabilistic fatigue life prediction. The research also delves into high-cycle fatigue behavior, stress intensity factors, crack propagation mechanisms, and the application of local approaches to fracture assessment.

  • Fatigue Crack Closure
  • Fracture Toughness Testing
  • Multiaxial Fatigue Criterion
  • Thermographic Methodology
  • Microstructure-Sensitive Modeling
  • Probabilistic Fatigue Life Prediction
  • High-Cycle Fatigue Behavior
  • Stress Intensity Factors
  • Crack Propagation Mechanism
  • Local Approach to Fracture
Research works
50k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
52% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Fatigue and fracture mechanics

Which countries lead Fatigue and fracture mechanics research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.7k and 537 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.7k works
  2. 2 United States 537 works
  3. 3 Japan 401 works
  4. 4 India 363 works
  5. 5 Germany 336 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 200 works
  7. 7 France 181 works
  8. 8 Italy 170 works
  9. 9 Russia 160 works
  10. 10 South Korea 150 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 51.6%United States: 10.4%Japan: 7.8%India: 7.0%6 others listed: 23.2%52%largest
China2,663 · 51.6%United States537 · 10.4%Japan401 · 7.8%India363 · 7.0%6 others listed1,197 · 23.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Fatigue and fracture mechanics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Southwest Jiaotong University publishes the most Fatigue and fracture mechanics research, followed by Northwestern Polytechnical University and Beihang University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 87 works
  2. 2 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 79 works
  3. 3 Beihang UniversityChina 73 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 65 works
  5. 5 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 61 works
  6. 6 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 61 works
  7. 7 Tongji UniversityChina 56 works
  8. 8 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 51 works
  9. 9 Tianjin UniversityChina 48 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 47 works

Who are the leading researchers in Fatigue and fracture mechanics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Fatigue and fracture mechanics include Wei Huang, Xiaogang Wang and Takashi Taniguchi.

  1. 1 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 227k citations
  4. 4 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  5. 5 Lei Jiang China 214k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Fatigue and fracture mechanics?

The most cited paper in Fatigue and fracture mechanics is "Influence of partially known parameter on flaw characterization in Eddy Current Testing by using a random walk MCMC method based on metamodeling" (Caifang Cai, Thomas Rodet, Marc Antoine Lambert, 2014), with 12,195 citations. Next come "A Path Independent Integral and the Approximate Analysis of Strain Concentration by Notches and Cracks" (8,399) and "A Critical Analysis of Crack Propagation Laws" (7,114).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Influence of partially known parameter on flaw characterization in Eddy Current Testing by using a random walk MCMC method based on metamodeling Caifang Cai, Thomas Rodet, Marc Antoine Lambert · Journal of Physics Conference Series Conference paperOpen access 21 Oct 2014 12,195
2 A Path Independent Integral and the Approximate Analysis of Strain Concentration by Notches and Cracks JAMES R. RICE · Journal of Applied Mechanics Jun 1968 8,399
3 A Critical Analysis of Crack Propagation Laws Paul C. Paris, F. Erdoğan · Journal of Basic Engineering Dec 1963 7,114
4 Analysis of crack formation and crack growth in concrete by means of fracture mechanics and finite elements Arne Hillerborg, Mats Modéer, Per-Erik Petersson · Cement and Concrete Research Nov 1976 6,876
5 A finite element method for crack growth without remeshing Nicolas Mo�s, John E. Dolbow, Ted Belytschko · International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering Open access 10 Sep 1999 6,402
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Fatigue and fracture mechanics research done?

The largest centres of Fatigue and fracture mechanics research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Xi'an (China) and Chengdu (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 524 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 252 works
  3. 3 Xi'anChina 199 works
  4. 4 ChengduChina 167 works
  5. 5 NanjingChina 167 works
  6. 6 TokyoJapan 149 works
  7. 7 TianjinChina 94 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 87 works
  9. 9 DalianChina 77 works
  10. 10 TehranIran 76 works
See Fatigue and fracture mechanics on the map

Where is the best place to study Fatigue and fracture mechanics?

Among universities, judged by research, Southwest Jiaotong University, Tianjin University and Northwestern Polytechnical University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.32%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tianjin UniversitySouthwest Jiaotong U…Tongji UniversityNorthwestern Polytec…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 74.823.6%19.0×87 +73.3%
2Tianjin UniversityChina 66.125.7%6.6×48 +14.0%
3Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 65.518.8%11.7×79 +9.0%
4Tongji UniversityChina 64.419.2%6.2×56 +47.6%
5Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 63.215.7%11.6×60 +31.3%
6Beihang UniversityChina 62.317.6%11.2×73 +5.6%
7Iran University of Science and TechnologyIran 60.128.8%11.5×18 -44.3%
8East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 58.919.8%14.7×43 +4.5%
9Chongqing UniversityChina 58.115.9%5.8×37 +40.1%
10Lappeenranta-Lahti University of TechnologyFinland 58.028.1%19.9×12 +142.8%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Fatigue and fracture mechanics, country by country

Is Fatigue and fracture mechanics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2019.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Fatigue and fracture mechanics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.028% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Fatigue and fracture mechanics0.026% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Fatigue and fracture mechanics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Fatigue and fracture mechanics9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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