Influence of hardening rule on prediction of cyclic plasticity in pressurized thin tubes subjected to cyclic push-pull

Abstract

The paper considers the cyclic plastic behaviour of a thin-walled tube subjected to steady internal pressure and cyclic reversed axial push-pull. Tubes under such a loading combination are known to exhibit continued strain growth in the hoop direction. The steady-state behaviour of the tube is investigated using a number of hardening rules within the framework of time-independent plasticity theory. Isotropic hardening and Prager kinematic hardening are considered first and shown to yield no strain growth at the steady state. When a kinematically hardened yield surface is assumed to translate in the direction of the stress rate vector, considerable steady-state strain growth is predicted in the hoop direction. Consideration of two-surface plasticity theory yields also large steady-state strain growth. Closed-form analytical expressions are derived for growth rates and ranges of cyclic plasticity for all hardening rules considered. Contours of strain growth are plotted for practical ranges of primary and secondary stresses using representative material properties. Comparison with limited test data indicate that the predicted steady growth rate is larger than about four times observed rate.