Cyclic Response and Low Cycle Fatigue Characteristics of Plate Steels

Keywords: Cyclic response.  Low cycle fatigue.  Stress-strain behaviors.  Plate steels.  Structural grade steels.  Low yield point (LYP) steels.  High performance steels (HPS).  Cyclic stresses.  Yield strengths.  Fatigue life.  Earthquake engineering.

Abstract: Due to the lack of experimental data on the stress-strain behavior of specialty steels and conventional grade steels, a comprehensive study on the stress-strain and low cycle fatigue properties was conducted.  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the stress-stain characteristics of plate steels subjected to repeated cyclic plastic deformations.  The steel grades ranged from high performance steel HPS 485MPa to low yield point steel LYP Grade 100 MPa.  Of specific interest was the cyclic stress as measured relative to the yield strength and the variability of the achieved stresses across the different steel grades.  In addition, low cycle fatigue characteristics were desired to compare the fatigue life.  The experimental results showed that all of the steels would be suitable for earthquake engineering applications, although the effects of welding or multi-axial stresses were not considered.