Braun, MoritzMoritzBraunMüller, André MischaAndré MischaMüllerMilaković, Aleksandar-SašaAleksandar-SašaMilakovićFricke, WolfgangWolfgangFrickeEhlers, SörenSörenEhlers2020-06-112020-06-112020-04-16Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures 7 (43): 1541-1554 (2020)http://hdl.handle.net/11420/6247Notches, local stress raisers within structural components, are one of the most important locations for fatigue crack initiation. It is well known that fatigue is governed by the effective stresses in the vicinity of notches. Within this study, differences in prediction accuracy between different types of theory of critical distance methods, that is, point and line methods, are systematically investigated in conjunction with a sensitivity study regarding mesh refinement, assumed strength hypothesis and material behaviour. For this purpose, a finite element analysis parameter study on notched structures is performed and recommendations for the application of stress gradient methods are presented. Difference in effective stress of up to 30%, and hence a significant difference in fatigue life (e.g., 185% for a slope of S-N curve of k = 4), is found for typical notch shapes, for example, in welded joints.en8756-758X2020715411554Wiley-Blackwellhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/critical distancefatigue at notchesfinite element analysisnotch fatigue analysisnotch sensitivitystress gradientTechnikJournal Article10.15480/882.279510.1111/ffe.1323210.15480/882.2795Journal Article