Simulation of low cycle fatigue with Abaqus/FEA

Abstract

Low cycle fatigue is an important design consideration for large steel structures and metallic machine components. Accurate prediction of fatigue endurance is essential to design the elements subjected to fatigue. The design guidelines given in codes of practices are applicable only to simple shapes and laboratory experimental verification is costly. Therefore simulation using finite element software is becoming popular. This paper demonstrate successful coupling of Abaqus/FEA and fe-safe software in predicting the uni-axial fatigue behaviour of a stainless steel specimen. The simulated results are verified against experimental results available in literature. Sensitivity to surface roughness and material model were examined.