Fatigue design of engineering structures is typically based on lifetime calculation using a cumulative damage law. The linear damage rule by Miner is the universal standard for fatigue design even though numerous experimental studies have shown its deficiencies and possible non-conservative outcomes. In an effort to overcome these deficiencies, many nonlinear cumulative damage models and life prediction models have been developed since; however, none of them have found wide acceptance. This review article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the art in cumulative damage and lifetime prediction models for endurance based high-cycle fatigue design of metal structures.

There is an abundance of nonlinear fatigue damage accumulation models but a lack of verification and comparison to experimental datasets. First, an extensive two-level block loading experimental fatigue dataset is reprocessed according to current standard practice. Next, four nonlinear damage accumulation models and the Palmgren-Miner linear damage rule are critically compared using a range of statistical metrics. For the considered dataset, the Palmgren-Miner rule consistently performs worst and the damage curve approach is found to perform significantly better than the other nonlinear models. This study shows that the current practice of performance verification of new fatigue damage accumulation models in literature is too limited which enables cherry-picking of verification datasets to improve perceived performance.Future fatigue damage accumulation models should be verified much more rigorously to both readily available and new experimental datasets.

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