Use of a Two-Rod Approach for Understanding Ratcheting in Structures☆

Abstract In a national project, with the aim to develop a robust method for structural verification of pressure equipment subjected to ratcheting, a two-rod test approach is developed. Two testing machines, with one specimen in each, are controlled in such way that a constant primary load and a cyclic secondary load are applied on the specimens. The ferritic steel P265 and the austenitic steel 316L are tested for a number of load combinations. Test results show that ratcheting is produced in all tests. As expected, the amount of ratcheting increases with the load level. At the start of a two-rod test, structural ratcheting dominates over material ratcheting. Depending on the load level and combination of primary load and cyclic secondary load, material ratcheting might eventually become more important. Based on results from tensile testing and fully-reversed strain controlled cycling, five different constitutive models are calibrated. The possibility to simulate the response of the conducted experiments with the different models is investigated. The most advanced model investigated, i.e. the nonlinear kinematic Chaboche model, does not necessarily give the best predictions. Up to a strain level of 5%, i.e. the criterion in ASME NB-3228.4, the bi-linear model best predicts the experiments. Recommendations for how ratcheting in structures subjected to cyclic plastic deformation can be predicted by numerical simulation are given.