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In the example problem worked in this module, we are examining a creep situation.
What is creep? Well, simply put, creep is the tendency of materials to experience
permanent deformation when exposed to elevated temperatures for an extended time
frame, under loads which would be completely elastic if applied at a normal
temperature. That is, in creep, strains on a body become increasingly permanent over
time in the presence of elevated temperature. This results in stress relaxation in the body.
In the alternative, stress can be held constant and total strain will increase with time, in a
creep situation. Either scenario is a result of time-dependent inelastic strain.
In the example problem, a bolt is pretensioned to hold the lid of a pressure containment
vessel. The initial strain on the bolt is (1/30000), or 33.333 -strain, well within the
elastic range of the steel used. Thus, if the bolt were tightened as specified, and later
released, there would be no permanent strain, if the situation occurred entirely at (or near)
the reference temperature for the material. If the temperature is significantly raised,
though, our hypothetical material demonstrates a quite different behavior.
In the model, we assume that the total strain experienced by the bolts is constant, but the
total strain consists of an elastic part, and an inelastic part. The inelastic part is the
permanent creep strain. Thus we have
33.33 10 6 el cr
cr C1 C2
cr cr dt
E el E ( cr )
It may be seen from the last equation of the set above that the amount of creep strain
affects the stress, which in turn affects the creep strain rate (second equation, above,)
which in turn affects the creep strain (third equation,) which again affects the stress, and
so on. This is what I meant when I referred in the module to situations where the field
variable is self-affecting. Note that there are many different creep models, wherein
different empirical formulae are used to determine the inelastic strain. This is one such
model (strain rate as a power function of stress); Abaqus supports this model, and others.
The described situation is handled in the FEA approach by, again, using an iterative
scheme.
1. Initially, at time t = 0, we assume no inelastic strain ( cr0 0 ), hence
0 E el0 E .
2. We calculate the creep strain rate to be cr0 C1 0 , and approximate cr1 cr0 t
k
at the end of one time period t. We then recalculate elastic strain as el1 cr1
and recalculate stress as 1 E el1 .
3. We recalculate strain rate as cr2 C1 1 2 , recalculate inelastic strain as
C
cr2 1 cr cr2 t , recalculate elastic strain as el2 cr2 and recalculate stress as
2 E el2 .
4. We continue in the process, until we reach the end of our chosen time frame.
Here are the steps to be taken by you, to perform this analysis in Abaqus. These are the
GUI steps; if you are interested in the command steps, you might look at the .inp file
that Abaqus creates from your GUI inputs. It is assumed by now that you have sufficient
experience with Abaqus to know how, for example, to create a section definition or
instance a part.
1. Enter the Abaqus/CAE environment, and specify an appropriate job name, like
creep.
2. Create a 3-D solid extrusion consisting of a right, circular cylinder of radius
0.5642 and length of 10. Note that these dimensions are in inches.
3. Create the material property definition. This material will require a reference
temperature, as the creep only occurs at elevated temperatures. We will thus need
to input the elastic properties which include a thermal expansion coefficient. This
coefficient may have a zero value, but must be input in order to provide a
reference temperature.
The creep properties to input are: Power Law Multiplier (A) = 4.8 x 10-30,
Equivalent Stress Order (n) = 7 and Time Order (m) = 0. The units of A are
strain/hour; n and m are unitless.