Finite Element Implementation of a Thermoviscoplastic Model for Ratcheting

A thermoviscoplastic constitutive model is proposed to simulate the uniaxial/multiaxial ratcheting of cyclically stable materials and its finite element implementation is also achieved. The kinematic and isotropic hardening rules used in the proposed model are similar to that developed by Voyiadjis and Abu Al-Rub [1], except for the coupling with temperature and strain-rate effects. The proposed constitutive equations include thermo-elasto-viscoplasticity, a dynamic yield criterion of a von Mises type, the associated flow rules, non-linear strain hardening, strain-rate hardening, and temperature softening. In the finite element implementation of the proposed model new implicit stress integration algorithms are proposed. The proposed unified integration algorithms are extensions of the classical rate-independent radial return scheme to the rate-dependent problems. A new expression of consistent tangent modulus is also derived for rate- and temperature-dependent inelasticity. The proposed model is verified by simulating the uniaxial ratcheting of a metallic material.