“…In particular, initially it is worth noticing here that, when plain metallic materials are subjected to multiaxial cyclic loading, micro/meso-cracks can propagate either on the component surface or inwards, the latter situation being the most damaging one [19,20] According to the above experimental outcomes, the hypothesis can be formed then that, given the assumed crack initiation location (point O in Figure 1a), fatigue damage reaches its maximum value on that material plane experiencing the maximum shear strain amplitude, γ a [1,5,6] (see Figure 1b), and it holds true independently of the complexity of the loading path damaging the material being assessed. Further, it is hypothesised that, in order to correctly take into account the mean stress effect, according to Socie [22], not only the amplitude, σ n,a , but also the mean value, σ n,m , of the stress normal to the critical plane has to be incorporated into the fatigue damage model (Fig.…”