A Statistical Evaluation of the Staircase and the ArcSin√P Methods for Determining the Fatigue Limit

Abstract

Abstract A critical evaluation of the statistics of the fatigue limit as determined by the staircase method and the ArcSin√P transformation is presented. The effects of the testing conditions on the accuracy of results obtained are examined. A modified analysis of the data obtained via the staircase method is presented which yields a reliable estimate of the standard deviation of the fatigue limit, even for small sample sets.