Limited Versus Unlimited Strain Accumulation Due to Ratcheting Mechanisms

After distinguishing material ratcheting and structural ratcheting, different phenomena related to structural ratcheting are gathered. Ratcheting of elastic-plastic structures observed with stationary position of loads is distinguished from ratcheting with moving loads. Both categories are illustrated by examples. The effect of evolution laws for the internal variables describing kinematic hardening on the accumulation of strain due to a ratcheting mechanism, and whether the ratcheting mechanism ceases with the number of cycles so that the accumulated strains are limited, is discussed. Some conditions are shown, under which the Chaboche model can lead to shakedown. Scenarios where shakedown is guaranteed at every load level, or where it may or may not occur at a specific load level, or where it definitely cannot occur at any load level, are distinguished. Correspondingly, the usefulness of shakedown analyses, which are searching for maximum load factors assuring shakedown, or direct (or simplified) methods to obtain postshake-down quantities by avoiding incremental cyclic analyses is discussed.