Ratcheting Prediction at the Notch Root of Steel Samples Over Asymmetric Loading Cycles

The present study intends to evaluate local ratcheting and stress relaxation of medium carbon steel samples under various asymmetric load levels by means of two kinematic hardening rules of Chaboche (CH) and Ahmadzadeh-Varvani (A-V). The Neuber's rule was coupled with the hardening rules to predict ratcheting and stress relaxation at the vicinity of the notch root. Stress-strain hysteresis loops generated by the CH and A-V models were employed to simultaneously control ratcheting progress over stress cycles and stress relaxation at notch root while strain range kept constant in each cycle. The higher cyclic load levels applied at the notch root accelerated shakedown over smaller number of cycles and resulted in lower relaxation rate. The larger notch diameter of 9 mm on the other hand induced lower stress concentration and smaller plastic zone at the notch root promoting ratcheting progress with less materials constraint over loading cycles compared with notch diameter d = 3 mm. Predicted ratcheting results through the A-V and CH models as coupled with the Neuber's rule were found in good agreements with the experimental data. The choice of the A-V and CH hardening rules in assessing ratcheting of materials was attributed to the number of terms/coefficients and complexity of their frameworks and computational time/central processing unit (CPU) required to run a ratcheting program.