Abstract: As one of the most common failure modes of mechanical structures, fatigue has been researched for more than 160 years since the term “fatigue” was first proposed in 1854, and the fatigue knowledge has laid a solid foundation for theory and modern technology in mechanical strength areas, and has promoted structural design from experience to safety concept. The paper presented a retrospect on the origin and development, and a summary of the milestones achieved in fatigue research that was driven by typical engineering failure cases. A thorough literature data mining was carried out to illustrate the highlighted achievements, hot topics, and new research trends in the past 50 years. The work showed that the fatigue limit, microstructural genetics, crack-tip driving force, creep-fatigue interaction, and safety factor, were still difficult topics to be solved, though explored for century-long period. The work also indicates that, the emergence of data science and big data technology can provide new pathways to make breakthroughs and establishments in data-driven fatigue life prediction, physical mechanisms of fatigue damage interpretation, and fatigue reliability design of high-end equipment at extreme working conditions.

Key words: fatigue, fracture, creep, damage mechanisms, life prediction, structural design