[en] The report reviews current understanding of the behaviour of structure subject to variable mechanical and thermal loading below the creep range through a comparison of theoretical solutions and experimental studies. The particular characteristics of the austenitic stainless steels are emphasized in components subject to moderate primary loads and large thermal loads. The review shows that a clear classification of types of thermal loading is required in design. Two main classes, termed category A and B, exist which arise not from the magnitude of the thermal stresses but their extent through the material volume of the structure. In category A situations, the Bree plate problem being the prime example, the maximum thermal stresses occur over a volume of the structure which does not contain a mechanism of failure. As a result very large thermal stresses may be withstood without ratchetting occurring for sufficiently small mechanical loads. For category B situations, the maximum thermal stress occur within a volume of material which contains a mechanism of deformation. In such cases, the capacity of the structure to withstand thermal loading is limited by a variation of the maximum thermal stress at a material point of 2σsub(γ) where σsub(γ) is a suitably defined yield stress. This situation seems to be the most typical problem of the Liquid Metal Fast Reactor and the ''3Sm'' limit in the ASME III code restriction on secondary stress cannot be exceeded if ratchetting is to be prevented