Simulation cyclic loading of a steel beam-column joint with welded steel angle and stiffeners in Abaqus

In this tutorial, the Simulation cyclic loading of a steel beam-column joint with welded steel angle and stiffeners in Abaqus. Box column, steel beam angles, and stiffeners are modeled as the three-dimensional solid part. If a structural steel member is subjected to a cyclically varying load of sufficient amplitude it may fail after a certain number of load repetitions, even though the maximum load in a single cycle is much less than that required to cause yielding or fracture. You can see a figure of the assembled parts below

Cyclic loading refers to the process in which stress or strain is applied to a material repeatedly over time, causing the material to experience alternating periods of loading and unloading. It is a key factor in the study of fatigue and failure in materials.. Under cyclic loading, the elastic deformation will be recovered in the process of unloading, but the irreversible deformation will remain. The irreversible deformation, growth trend, and accumulation of total fatigue are directly related to fatigue damage

To model steel material under cyclic load, Kinematic and Combined hardening can be used to consider the stress-strain diagram in each cycle. The analysis procedure would be the general static approach. To define weld joints, surface-to-surface interaction or constraints can be selected. The proper boundary with cyclic load protocol is applied to the beam. The mesh should be fine to obtain the correct results.

After the simulation, all results such as stress, strain, displacement, Hysteresis diagram, plastic strain, and others are available. You can see some figures for the results below