A thermal fatigue test (INTHERPOL) was developed by EDF in order to study the initiation
of cracks. These tests are carried out on tubular specimens under various thermal loadings
and surface finish qualities in order to give an account of these parameters on crack
initiation. The main topic of this study is to test the sensitivity of different fatigue
criteria to surface conditions using a micro/macro modelling approach. Therefore a 304L
polycrystalline aggregate, used for cyclic plasticity based FE modelling, have been
considered as a Representative Volume Element located at the surface and subsurface of the
test tube. This aggregate has been cyclically strained according to the results issued
from FE simulation of INTHERPOL thermal fatigue experiment. Different surface parameters
have been numerically simulated: effects of local microstructure and of grains
orientation, effects of machining: metallurgical prehardening, residual stress gradient,
and surface roughness. Three different fatigue criteria (Manson Coffin, Fatemi Socie and
dissipated energy types), previously fitted at a macroscale for thermal fatigue of 304L,
have been computed at a meso scale, in order to show the surface “hot spots” features and
test the sensitivity of these three criteria to different surface conditions. Results show
that grain orientation and neighbouring play an important role on the location of hot
spots, and also that the positive effect of prestraining and the negative effect of
roughness on fatigue life are not all similarly predicted by these different fatigue
criteria.