Austenitic stainless steel EBF subjected to low and extremely low cycle fatigue

Abstract

Dissipative zones buildings, in which plastic hinges or plastic strains occur during, for instance, seismic episodes, have been studied for many different types of steel fuse elements. Stainless steel (SS), has attracted attention in this regard due to its high ductility and further studies are needed to determine its performance and usefulness as fuses. The use of SS in the construction industry has represented an advance due to its already known anticorrosive properties in addition to its strength and ductility. However, recent research on cyclic plasticity shows that SS has significant hardening properties, which can be exploited in the use of this material in structural elements to support cyclic loads, such as those occurring during earthquakes. The cyclic plasticity models in SS have been studied with some applications (fatigue, low-cycle fatigue and extremely low cycle fatigue). Several studies carried out cyclic tests to obtain experimental data, which have been used for numerical models with the utilisation of a combined numerical model of kinematic/isotropic hardening. These studies recommend models to simulate the behaviour of SS under a cyclic load. This work presents an experimental study of the cyclic behaviour of SS when subject to low and extremely low cycle fatigue. Several protocols on tests such as companion, multiple step and arbitrary tests were carried out. The results inferred from the experimental program provide hardening parameters used to study one example of dissipative zones of eccentrically braced frames (EBFs).