An Application of Incremental Plasticity Theory to Fatigue Life Prediction of Steels

An incremental plasticity model is proposed based on the von-Mises yield condition, associated flow rule, and nonlinear kinematic hardening rule. In the present model, fatigue life prediction requires only the uniaxial cycle stress-strain curve and the uniaxial fatigue test results on smooth specimens. Experimental data of 304 stainless steel and 1045 carbon steel were used to validate this analytical model. It is shown that a reasonable description of steady-state hysteresis stress-strain loops and prediction of fatigue lives under various combined axial-torsional loadings are given by this model