Modeling of uniaxial and biaxial ratcheting behavior of 1026 carbon steel using the simplified viscoplasticity theory based on overstress (VBO)

Hassan and Kyriakides, Hassan et al., and Corona et al. performed uniaxial and biaxial ratcheting experiments on heat-treated 1026 Carbon steel. The loading histories performed with uniaxial and tubular specimens were selected to simulate those encountered in nuclear reactor vessels. The stress-strain diagram of 1026 Carbon steel was used to determine the material constants in a simplified version of VBO. Small rate dependence was allowed. The model represents some nonlinear rate dependence, kinematic hardening and cyclically neutral behavior. The set of material constants determined only from uniaxial tests was used throughout the paper. Numerical experiments included are: (i) uniaxial stress-controlled cycling with various mean stresses, (ii) strain-controlled axial tests with tubular specimens under constant and variable internal pressure, and (iii) examination and variation of certain material constants of the VBO model that can influence ratcheting. Very good agreement with the experiments is found for the uniaxial case. However the ratchet strain accumulation during biaxial cycling is overpredicted by VBO and other constitutive models.