Analysis of Fatigue Damage under Block Loading in a Low Carbon Steel

Abstract: The fatigue damage accumulation behaviour of the P355NL1 steel is characterised using block loading fatigue tests. First, the constant amplitude low‐cycle fatigue behaviour of the P355NL1 steel is evaluated through strain‐controlled fatigue tests of smooth specimens. Both fatigue and cyclic elastoplastic behaviours are analysed. Then, block loading is applied to identify the key features of the fatigue damage accumulation phenomena for the P355NL1 steel. The block loading is composed of two distinct low‐cycle constant amplitude strain‐controlled blocks. The first block is applied for a predefined number of loading cycles, being followed by a second block which is applied until failure. The block loading illustrates that fatigue damage evolves nonlinearly with the number of load cycles as a function of the strain amplitude. These observations suggest a nonlinear damage accumulation rule with load sequence effects. The linear Palmgren–Miner's rule used extensively in design is not verified for the P355NL1 steel. Finally, using the generated experimental data, the cyclic elastoplastic behaviour of the P355NL1 steel is modelled using a continuum plasticity model with nonlinear kinematic hardening, available in the commercial finite element code ansys®.