A procedure to generate input data of cyclic softening and hardening for FEM analysis from constant strain amplitude fatigue tests in LCF regime

Fatigue is produced by cyclic application of stresses by mechanical or thermal loading. The metal subjected to fluctuating stress will fail at stresses much lower than those required to cause fracture in a single application of load. The key parameters are the range of stress variation and the number of its occurrences. Low-cycle fatigue, usually induced by mechanical and thermal loads, is distinguished from high-cycle fatigue, mainly associated with vibration or high number of small thermal fluctuations. Numerical models describing fatigue behaviour of austenitic stainless piping steels under cyclic loading and their applicability for modelling of low-cycle-fatigue are discussed in this report. In order to describe the cyclic behaviour of the material for analysis with finite element method (FEM) based analysis code ABAQUS, the test data, i.e. stress-strain curves, have to be processed. A code to process the data all through the test duration was developed within this study. A description of this code is given also in this report. Input data for ABAQUS was obtained to describe both kinematic and isotropic hardening properties. Further, by combining the result data for various strain amplitudes a mathematic expression was be created which allows defining a parameter surface for cyclic (i.e. isotropic) hardening. Input data for any strain amplitude within the range of minimum and maximum strain amplitudes of the test data can be assessed with the help of the developed 3D stress-strain surface presentation. The modelling of the fatigue induced initiation and growth of cracks was not considered in this study. On the other hand, a considerable part of the fatigue life of nuclear power plant (NPP) piping components is spent in the phase preceding the initiation and growth of cracks. (au)