The role of local plasticity in the redistribution of stress fields caused by in-service fatigue overloads

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the effect of diverse cyclic loading conditions on the residual stress field in cold-drawn pearlitic steel wires. To this end, on one hand, a numerical simulation by the finite element method of the manufacturing process (cold drawing) of a prestressing steel wire was carried out for revealing the residual stress state induced by the manufacture technique. On the other hand, a numerical simulation was performed of the in-service fatigue loading applied to a cold drawn wire (including the manufacturing-induced residual stress-strain state). According to the obtained results, the plastic strain generated during fatigue loading causes a reduction of the initial residual stress at the surface and a redistribution of the residual stress field.