An experimental and theoretical investigation of the response of BS11 steel to cyclic loading

Abstract

This paper contains a detailed experimental investigation of the cyclic properties of a standard high-carbon pearlitic rail steel (BS11) subjected to complex uniaxial cyclic loading. The experiments were designed to be either load- or strain-controlled. It is found that the material response strongly depends on the mean value of stress or plastic strain as well as its amplitude. In a strain-controlled process, the mean stress does not reduce to zero but to a value corresponding to the plastic mean strain assuming the amplitude is kept constant. The specimen ratchets in the direction of mean stress but the cyclic ratcheting rate greatly reduces during the cyclic process and ends at a constant value. There is no sign that the ratcheting would stop, which is a new observed feature different from Bower's observation. The constitutive description proposed by the authors is found to give a good correlation to the experimental observation.