International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234

A neural network approach to elevated temperature creepfatigue

life prediction
Vasisht Venkatesh *, H.J. Rack
School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

Received 19 October 1997; received in revised form 24 May 1998; accepted 28 September 1998

Abstract

A new approach using a back-propagation neural network for life prediction was developed and demonstrated for predicting the
elevated temperature (0.70.8 Tm) creepfatigue behavior of Ni-base alloy INCONEL 690. The neural network was trained with
five extrinsic parameters, characterized via a 251 fractional factorial design methodology, and an intrinsic parameter (final grain
size). The back-propagation network training error, prediction error and training time were minimized using a second fractional
factorial design. Life prediction accuracy using only 11 training sets, few training iterations ( 20,000) and a simple network
architecture (6-2-2-1) showed significant improvement, for sets not previously used for training, when compared to CoffinManson,
linear life fraction and hysteresis energy prediction techniques. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Creep fatigue; Life prediction; Neural networks; Ni-base superalloy

1. Introduction important [79,24]. Some improvement in predictive

capability is possible through the introduction of , a
Conventional elevated temperature creepfatigue life frequency term that is intended to account for time-
prediction techniques often assume that the same defor- dependent effects [1,4,14]. Thus:
mation mechanism is operative over a range of extrinsic
conditions, e.g. strain levels, frequencies, and dwell Nf
times. Additionally, time-dependent changes in intrinsic Nf k 1 k k tf constant (2)

materials characteristics, e.g. grain size and carbide dis-
tribution [16,1218] are also often ignored. For p A(Nf k 1)
example, one approach, due to Coffin and Manson
[1,4,24], establishes an empirical relationship between
where tf is the time to failure, A, and k again being
the plastic strain range, p, and the fatigue life (cycles
constants.
to failure), Nf:
Alternatively, the linear life fraction approach,
adopted in ASME section III B and P.V. code case N-
pNf C (1)
47, assumes that fatigue and creep damage phenomena
can be separated into cyclic and time-dependent compo-
where C and are time-independent constants. The Cof-
nents, and that these can then be linearly summed
finManson approach tends to yield non-conservative
[3,14,24,25]:
estimates of fatigue life when used under conditions, e.g.
at higher temperatures or longer exposure times, where
time-dependent phenomena become increasingly n t
f c D (3)
Nf tR

* Corresponding author. TIMETTechnical Labs, Henderson, NV where f is the damage due to fatigue, c the damage
89015, USA; Tel.: 1-702-566-4435; Fax: 1-702-564-9038; E- due to creep, n the number of cycles applied during a
mail: vasisht.venkatesh@timet.com given loading condition, Nf the corresponding fatigue

0142-1123/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 2 - 1 1 2 3 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 7 1 - 1
226 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234
life for this loading condition, t the time of creep load-
ing, tR the rupture time under load and D the total allow-
able damage. Typically a total allowable damage of 1.0
is possible only when failure is ascribed to either pure
creep or fatigue damage. When creep and fatigue inter-
act, the damage value falls below 1.0, the exact design
value of D then being defined from experimental data
for each material under specified extrinsic conditions
[2,5,14,15,24,26].
Ostergren [2,4,5,27] recognized that mean stress
effects had to be included in any successful high tem-
perature life prediction approach. These mean stress
effects arise from time-dependent relaxation. This
approach assumed the damage measure to be the net ten-
sile hysteretic energy corresponding to the area in the
hysteresis loop between the mean stress and ultimate
stress. This physical measure was related to be the
energy associated with crack propagation and was
approximated as Tp [27], where T was the
maximum tensile stress, i.e.
TpNf C (4)
and C, are constants. This relationship can again be
modified to include time-dependent damage by introduc-
ing a frequency term [27]
TpNf (k 1) C (5)
1 1
(O T C)
where , C, k are constants, is the frequency, O the
continuous cycling period, T the tensile dwell time and
C the compressive dwell time. For materials whose life-
time is dependent on waveshape, i.e., when the amount
of relaxation is different in tension and compression, the
waveshape dependence is accounted for by
1
for T > C (6)
(O T C)
1
O
for T C.
While meeting various degrees of success, there are
several limitations associated with the above mentioned
life prediction methods. For example, the CoffinMan-
son does not differentiate between loading cycles with
or without hold times or between tension and com-
pression strain rates as long as the frequencies and strain
ranges are the same [14,24]. Similarly, the linear life
fraction methodology considers both tensile and com-
pression hold times to be equally damaging, not taking
into account possible healing effects of the compress-
ive cycle [5]. Additionally, while Ostergrens wavesh-
ape-dependent method separates tensile and compressive
hold times, it only considers a tensile hold time to be
damaging, overriding possible damage caused by com-
pressive holds that result in mean tensile stresses
[2,5,27].
A possible alternative approach entails artificial neural
networks (ANN), which has emerged as a powerful
problem solving tool in signal processing, non-destruc-
tive testing, process control, corrosion life prediction and
materials science [2832]. The architecture of an ANN
is based on the human nervous system which has over
a billion interconnected neurons that receive and process
information (Fig. 1) [33,34]. Each processing element
(PE) receives input signals, xi, from the environment or
from other PEs and processes the weighted, wij, sum of
all the inputs through a threshold function:
1
yij (7)
1 eWijxi
where yij is the output from the PE [33,34].
An extensively used network is the back-propagation
(BP) network which consists of three or more layers of
interconnected PEs (Fig. 1). The first layer is the input
layer which consists of all the input factors. Information
from the input layer is then passed through one or more
hidden layers, following which the output is computed
in the final layer. In a BP network the knowledge, i.e.
the relationship between input and output factors, is
stored as the interconnection strength (i.e. the weights)
between processing elements. In order for the network
to be able to learn the relationship between input and
output factors a training set consisting of known input
and corresponding output sets is compiled. For each
input in the training set the network computes an output,
Fig. 1. Typical back-propagation neural network configuration show-
ing several inteconnected neurons.
 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234
the error between the computed and actual output then
being calculated by the error function:
o(1 o)(d o) (8)
where o is the calculated network output and d is the
actual output in the training set. Next the error function
is minimized using the gradient descent approach, and
the weights between PEs are adjusted by:
wijk wijk(n 1) wijk(n 1) Z wijk(n) (9)
where wijk is the connection strength between the jth neu-
ron in the (k 1) layer and the ith neuron in the kth
layer, w is the weight change that reduces the error,
is the momentum term that is added after the first 100
iterations and Z is the learning rate.
These steps are repeated for all the training patterns,
until an acceptable error between the calculated and
observed output, or a preset number of iterations, both
of which are defined by the user prior to training, is achi-
eved. Successful application of neural networks does
however require that model inputs (based on physical
process), network architecture (number of hidden neu-
rons and layers), the learning rate, momentum term and
the number of iterations be adjusted to develop an accur-
ate BP model [2837].
Optimization of the back-propagation network per-
formance can be accomplished using a statistical design
approach. Improved network performance (prediction
capability) can be judged by minimizing the standard
deviation, M, evaluated from:
n [1921]. A 251 fractional factorial design, for each tem-
1
M 10 (logNmf logNex
f )
n 1
where Nmf is the predicted fatigue life, Nexf is the exper-
imentally observed fatigue life and n is the number of
test points. A linear correlation between predicted and
experimental values in the training set can also be used
as an indicator of the level of network training; the
higher the correlation value, the better the training, reco-
gnizing that over training of the network can occur lead-
ing to high correlation values (r 0.9) and poor network
predictions [37]. This has been attributed to the network
memorizing the training sets, i.e. the weights are over-
adjusted to yield good correlation with the training set,
but are unable to generalize on a test set.
Recently, increased interest has been shown in utiliz-
ing INCONEL 690 for nuclear waste vitrification
components operating at temperatures above 0.75 Tm
where INCONEL 690 is metallurgically unstable, both
carbide dissolution and extensive grain growth having
been observed [1921]. These latter studies have also
shown that such microstructural instabilities have a
227
major impact on the deformation mechanisms observed
during constant stress loading, a transition in primary
deformation mechanism from matrix controlled dislo-
cation motion to grain boundary sliding and migration
being observed [22,23].
This material is therefore an excellent candidate for
examining the potential applicability and limitations of
the neural network approach for creepfatigue life pre-
diction. The objective of this research was aimed at
examining this new method and comparing its predictive
capability with those of the CoffinManson, linear life
fraction and the hysteresis energy techniques for the
design of components operating at high temperatures
(0.70.9 Tm).
2. Experimental procedure
The experimental tasks undertaken in this investi-
gation utilized solution annealed INCONEL 690 plate
(wt% 61.01% Ni, 28.05% Cr, 10.24% Fe, 0.016% C,
0.22% Mn, 0.22% Si and 0.24% Cu). Optical metal-
lography of the solution treated alloy revealed an equi-
axed grain size of 39 m, with discrete (M23C6) carbides
and larger rectangular titanium carbonitrides Ti(C,N)
distributed non-uniformly along bands (Fig. 2).
The influence of the five extrinsic factors, i.e. strain
range, tensile strain rate, compressive strain rate, tensile
hold and compressive hold, on the fatigue life, Nf of
INCONEL 690, were considered. High temperature low
cycle creepfatigue lifetimes were determined per
ASTM E606-80 [38] at 1000 and 1100C, where prior
investigations have revealed microstructural instabilities
(10) perature, was utilized over a range of extrinsic con-
ditions within typical creepfatigue conditions, each
having two levels (i.e. a high level (+) and a low level
Fig. 2. Micrograph showing solution annealed microstructure in
INCONEL 690.
228 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234

()) (Table 1). The choice of extrinsic factor levels was

intended to provide a statistically significant variation in
fatigue life over the testing region and yet stay within
the bounds of linearity between extrinsic factor effects,
as assumed by two-level factorial designs [35,3942]
The influence of these variables on the creepfatigue
lifetime was evaluated utilizing analysis of variance
techniques [35,3942]. Analysis of variance for a 251
fractional factorial design methodology was
accomplished using the general linear model procedure
in the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) [42], which
included replicates of sets 1, 7, 11, 15 at 1000C and
sets 3 and 4 (set 3 being replicated twice) at 1100C.
Experiments were performed in a high purity argon
atmosphere under diametrical strain control, the sample
being heated at 30C min1 to the test temperature and
held for 30 min before test commencement. Test com-
pletion, i.e. number of cycles to failure, Nf, was defined Fig. 3. Schematic representation of sets 116 in a 251 fractional fac-
by complete fracture of the specimen. torial design space.
Following test completion, the samples were gas jet
cooled. One half of the sample was subsequently sec- Evaluation of the creep component constants in the
tioned parallel to loading axis for optical analysis. These linear life fraction approach entailed utilizing data from
were prepared by mechanical polishing followed by prior creep studies of INCONEL 690 [23,45] coupled
electro-etching with 10% oxalic acid at 3 V for 20 s. with the MonkmanGrant relationship between mini-
Eleven test sets (sets 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14 and mum creep rate and creep rupture times. Once the Monk-
15), at each temperature, were selected from the statisti- manGrant relationship was established, minimum strain
cal design matrix to calibrate the modified CoffinMan- rates during fatigue hold times were determined and the
son, linear life fraction and hysteresis life prediction corresponding rupture times, tR, used to calculate C in
methodologies (Fig. 3). The constants and in the Eq. (3). Due to the large amounts of softening observed
modified CoffinManson (Eq. (2)) and hysteresis energy in INCONEL 690 under creepfatigue conditions the
approach (Eq. (5)) were determined from a linear fit of minimum strain rates were evaluated at the half-life N1/2,
constant frequency data comprising of sets 2, 3, 5 and which was assumed to be representative of the average
8 (Fig. 4). Following this, a linear fit of constant strain material response.
amplitude data yielded the (k 1) exponent in Eqs. (2) The back-propagation neural network method utilized
and (5) (Fig. 5). six factors (strain range, tensile strain rate, compressive

Table 1
251 factorial design containing five extrinsic parameters at two levels carried out at 1000 and 1100C

Tensile strain rate, t Compressive strain Tensile hold time, tt Compressive hold
Test Strain range,
(s1) rate, c (s1) (s) time, th (s)

1 6.8 103 7.8 104 7.8 104 0 10

2 1.0 102 7.8 104 7.8 104 0 0
3 6.8 103 1.5 103 7.8 104 0 0
4 1.0 102 1.5 103 7.8 104 0 10
5 6.8 103 7.8 104 1.5 103 0 0
6 1.0 102 7.8 104 1.5 103 0 10
7 6.8 103 1.5 103 1.5 103 0 10
8 1.0 102 1.5 103 1.5 103 0 0
9 6.8 103 7.8 104 7.8 104 10 0
10 1.0 102 7.8 104 7.8 104 10 10
11 6.8 103 1.5 103 7.8 104 10 10
12 1.0 102 1.5 103 7.8 104 10 0
13 6.8 103 7.8 104 1.5 103 10 10
14 1.0 102 7.8 104 1.5 103 10 0
15 6.8 103 1.5 103 1.5 103 10 0
16 1.0 102 1.5 103 1.5 103 10 10
 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234 229

Fig. 4. The relationship between plastic strain range, p, and fatigue

life, Nf, at constant frequency and temperatures of 1000C and 1100C.

strain rate, tensile hold time, compressive hold time and

grain size) as inputs into the neural network model with
fatigue life as the predicted output. In order to optimize
the performance of the neural network model, five para-
meters, at two levels, were considered in a 251 fractional
factorial design (Table 2).
Finally following calibration/training, the six remain-
ing test sets (sets 4, 10, 11, 13 and 16) were used to
asses the predictive capability of the CoffinManson, lin-
ear life fraction rule, hysteresis energy and neural net-
work methodologies within experimental conditions con-
sidered in this study.

3. Results
Fig. 5. Frequency versus fatigue life at constant plastic strain ranges
out at (a) 1000C and (b) 1100C.
The creepfatigue lifetimes of INCONEL 690 at 1000
and 1100C can be classified into four broad groups
(Table 3). Group A consisted of sets 2, 3, 5 and 8 with Table 2
no hold times, Group B with sets 9, 12, 14 and 15 having Neural network parameters
a tensile hold, Group C with sets 1, 4, 6 and 7 having
Parameter Levels ( )
a compressive hold and finally Group D including sets
10, 11, 13 and 16 with both tensile and compressive Hidden neurons 26
hold times. Hidden layers 13
Statistical analysis confirmed that 98% of the Learning rate 0.10.5
Momentum term 0.30.9
observed variation in fatigue life, Nf, can be explained
Iterations 500020,000
by the five extrinsic factors, either acting alone or inter-
acting with other factors. For example, this analysis
showed that at 1000C the significant factors on fatigue
lifetime, at 1% significance level, were strain range, ten- level. The effect of increasing the temperature from 1000
silecompressive strain rate, tensilecompressive hold to 1100C resulted in increasing average fatigue life
times, tensile hold and strain rangecompressive strain within each group (Table 3).
rate, tensile strain rate being significant at 2.5% signifi- Specific single factor interactions at 1000 and 1100C
cance level. At 1100C the same factors with an showed that a decrease in strain range increased fatigue
additional two factor interaction between strain range life. This can be observed in Table 3 where test sets with
tensile strain rate were observed at a 1% significance a high strain range (even numbered test sets) have the
230 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234
Table 3
Comparison of fatigue life for the different groups and temperatures
Group Set Fatigue life at 1000C, N, cycles
A 2 443
3 2518
5 1300
8 600
B 9 850
12 600
14 375
15 1406
C 1 1003
4 480
6 550
7 800
D 10 480
11 1970
13 2050
16 1500
lowest fatigue lives in each group. At both temperatures
the tensilecompressive hold time interaction suggests
that asymmetric cycles, i.e. with hold times in either ten-
sion or compression, have a negative effect on fatigue
life, whereas symmetric cycles with either hold times in
both tension and compression or no hold times yield the
longest lives. This interaction effect can be observed in
Table 3 where groups A and D have larger average lives
than groups B and C, which have asymmetric cycles.
The two factor interactions between strain rangecom-
pressive strain rate at the two temperatures and low
strain ranges resulted in decreasing fatigue life with
increasing compressive rate (Table 3, sets 3 and 5 in
group A). However, at a high strain range the fatigue
life increased with increasing compressive rate, observed
in sets 8 and 2 in group A. The tensilecompressive
strain rate interaction at both 1000 and 1100C and low
compressive rate indicated an increase in fatigue life,
with increasing tensile strain rate. In contrast, at 1000C
and a high compressive rate the fatigue life increased
with increasing tensile rate, whereas at 1100C the
fatigue life decreased with increasing tensile rate. For
example, the influence of strain amplitudes on fatigue
life, at constant frequency in group A (test sets 3, 5, 8),
showed a decrease in fatigue life with increasing strain
range (Fig. 4). However, at the low strain range (test sets
3 and 5) large variations in fatigue life (2000 cycles) due
to interaction between tensilecompressive strain rates
was observed. This interaction effect between extrinsic
parameters can be further visualized in Fig. 5, which
shows a large variation in fatigue life at like and unlike
frequencies. The additional two factor interaction, at
1100C, between strain rangetensile strain rate showed
that there was a negligible effect of increasing tensile
strain rate on fatigue life when the strain range is high;
however, at low strain ranges the fatigue life increased
Fatigue life at 1100C, N, cycles
600
3550
1500
850
1307
1135
630
1760
950
650
764
1550
1230
4662
4000
1332
with increasing tensile strain rate. In each of these cases
a change in significant factor levels at 1100C resulted
in a larger effect or change in average fatigue life than
at 1000C.
4. Discussion
The life prediction capability of individual design
methodologies was assessed utilizing sets that had a
combination of extrinsic parameters not used to
calibrate/train the life prediction methods. These
prediction/test sets included group D having both tensile
and compressive hold times and set 4 having a com-
pressive hold (Fig. 3). The other sets consisting of sym-
metric and asymmetric cycles with different combi-
nations of tensile/compressive strain rates were used in
the training/calibration stage at each temperature.
The modified CoffinManson predicted set 4 accu-
rately at both temperatures, but was unable to satisfac-
torily predict any of group D (Fig. 6). This indicates
that, although the interpolative capability of the Coffin
Manson methodology is satisfactory, its prediction capa-
bility for combined tensile and compressive hold times
is unsatisfactory. Furthermore, the modified method does
not account for different waveshapes, hold time effects
and mean stress effects. Although a frequency term has
been introduced in this method, it still does not consider
cases possessing differing tensile and compressive strain
rates. For example, sets 11, 13 and 16 have the same
frequency of 0.03 Hz, but considerably different cycles
to failure. Similar interaction effects between extrinsic
parameters have been reported by other investigators
[3,4,10,11,43,44]. For example, asymmetric cycles were
observed to result in a lower fatigue life vis-a-vis sym-
metric cycles for 1CrMoV steel and CrNi alloy HK-
40 [3,4,10,11].
 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234
Fig. 6. Modified CoffinManson fatigue life prediction results at (a)
1000C and (b)1100C.
Poor fatigue lifetime prediction was also achieved
with the linear life fraction method, only the results of
sets 4 and 10 at 1000C and sets 10 and 16 at 1100C
lying within a factor of 2 (Fig. 7). The significant
interaction effects between tensile and compressive
strain rates and between tensile and compressive hold
times, as included within sets 11 and 13, could also not
be evaluated. Similarly, the contrasting interaction
effects of tensilecompressive strain rates observed at
1000 and 1100C, resulting in an increase in life cycles
at 1000C for set 16 and at 1100C for set 4, could not
be evaluated. Aside from the interaction effects, errors
associated with the evaluation of model parameters at
non-steady state conditions also contribute to the low
prediction accuracy. Finally, Fig. 8 shows that creep and
231
Fig. 7. Linear life fraction life prediction results at (a) 1000C and
(b) 1100C.
fatigue life fraction in INCONEL 690 could not be asso-
ciated with a constant damage criteria. At 1000C
fatigue damage appears to be dominant, while creep
damage is more dominant at 1100C.
Unfortunately, the use of the hysteresis energy meth-
odology did not improve life prediction, only sets 11 and
13 at 1000C lying within an error factor of 2 (Fig.
9). The hysteresis approach again does not account for
interactions between tensile and compressive hold times,
these increasing the lifetimes in sets 10 and 16. Nor does
the hysteresis energy methodology consider tensile strain
ratecompressive strain rate interaction effects, set 4,
which also increase lifetime.
Finally, the applicability of the neural network life
232 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234
Fig. 8. Linear life fraction relationship between fatigue fraction and
creep fraction at (a) 1000C and (b) 1100C. Straight line depicts dam-
age factor, D, equal to 1.
prediction methodology is demonstrated in Fig. 10. The
final back-propagation neural network parameters
(number of neurons, hidden layers, learning rate,
momentum term and iterations) used for life prediction
at the two temperatures are shown in Table 4, where
the network architectures are described numerically. For
example, network 6-2-2-1 consists of six input para-
meters, two hidden neurons in the two hidden layers and
one network output (fatigue life). Initially, the neural
network parameters used a set of default values obtained
from prior studies on back-propagation neural networks
[2832,37]. These values were then refined by varying
the five parameters according to a 251 fractional fac-
torial design analysis [41] (Table 5).
Excellent agreement between experimental and pre-
dicted life for the test points, within the range of experi-
Fig. 9. Hysterisis energy apprach fatigue life prediction results at (a)
1000C and (b) 1100C.
mental conditions examined, is observed with the neural
network approach. All predicted test point lifetimes at
1000C fall within an error factor of 2 (Fig. 10(a)).
Additionally, at 1100C runs 10 and 16 were predicted
exactly, run 4 with a compressive hold time lying just
outside the error bands limits (Fig. 10(b)).
This improved prediction capability was accomplished
by utilizing statistically designed creepfatigue experi-
ments, which served a dual purpose in this study. First,
the use of statistically designed fatigue experiments
results in an efficient method of training the neural net-
work to capture the relationship between the extrinsic
factors and fatigue life, while minimizing the number of
training sets required (11 sets). Second, the statistical
analysis isolates extrinsic factors that have a significant
effect on the fatigue life, which were in turn used as
input factors for the neural network. In addition, the stat-
istical analysis also suggests a highly complex (non-
 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234 233

linear) interaction between extrinsic parameters and

fatigue life, which implies that linear extrapolation of
training/testing data beyond the experimental range is
invalid in Fig. 10. Further testing beyond this experi-
mental range is required before extrapolation to long
term service conditions can be safely validated by the
back-propagation neural network approach.
In summary, the BP neural network approach to life
prediction yielded test point predictions that were
superior to three other prediction methods. This was
accomplished utilizing five extrinsic parameters and one
intrinsic characteristic (grain size) included in a simple
6-2-2-1 network architecture requiring only a few train-
ing iterations 20,000 iterations and using only 11
training sets per temperature. In contrast, the overall test
point predictions of the three traditional life prediction
methods were inaccurate, especially when tensile and
compressive hold times are included in the spectra.

5. Conclusions

This comparative study of elevated temperature

creepfatigue life prediction procedures has shown that
the back-propagation neural network technique, when
based upon a statistically designed training set, has the
potential for achieving superior creepfatigue life cycle
predictions when compared to the modified CoffinMan-
son, linear life fraction and hysteresis energy methods,
with 100% of the predictions at 1000C and 90% of the
predictions at 1100C lying within an error band of 2.

Acknowledgements

Fig. 10. Neural network fatigue life prediction results at (a) 1000C This research was partially funded by Westinghouse
and (b) 1100C. Savannah River Company and monitored by Dr. Charles
F. Jenkins. The high temperature grip material (MA 754)

Table 4
Final back-propagation neural network parameters and errors

Network
Temperature, C Learning rate Momentum term Iterations Training correlation Deviation, M
architecture

1000 6-2-2-1 0.5 0.9 5000 0.96 1.91

1100 6-2-2-1 0.5 0.3 20,000 0.75 0.36

Table 5
Range of back-propagation neural network parameters used in a 251 fractional factorial design to enhance prediction capability

Number of hidden
Temperature, C Number of neurons Learning rate Momentum term Number iterations
layers

1000 13 12 0.50.9 0.60.9 5002000

1100 13 12 0.050.3 0.60.9 5002000
234 V. Venkatesh, H.J. Rack / International Journal of Fatigue 21 (1999) 225234
was kindly provided by Dr. J.J. Fischer and Ms. N.J.
Isley, INCO Alloys International. One of the authors
(HJR) would also like to acknowledge the financial
assistance of a Humboldt Research Award that allowed
completion of this effort.
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