8/14/2016

UsingStressStrainDatainaFiniteElementSimulation|CAEAssociates

UsingStressStrainDatainaFiniteElement
Simulation

October10,2013By:EricStamper

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AnalysisofstructuresundergoingpermanentdeformationissomethingthatCAEAssociatesroutinely
performsaspartofitsFEAconsultingservices.Atypicalexampleisabatterycrimpingprocess,which
involvesmultiplecomponentssubjecttoplasticdeformation.
Ofgreatimportancetotheaccuracyoftheseanalysesarethematerialproperties.Characterizationof
plasticityinductilemetalscanbederivedfromatensiletest.Iftheloadasafunctionofdisplacementis
theoutputfromthetestapparatus,howcanthatinformationbeusedtodescribethebehaviorofthe
microstructureofthematerial?Dividetheforcebytheareaofthespecimen(engineeringstress)and
dividethedisplacementbytheoriginalspecimenlength(engineeringstrain)andweregettingalittle
closer.Suchdatamightlooklikewhatsshownbelow:

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8/14/2016

UsingStressStrainDatainaFiniteElementSimulation|CAEAssociates

Aftertheyieldstressanduptotheultimatestrength(UTS)thecurveexhibitsstrainhardening.Thisisa
way the material can carry more load even with a reduction in crosssectional area (caused by the
shearing of molecular bonds). The stress will continue to increase with strain as long as the strain
hardeningcancompensateforthisreductioninarea.Onceitcannolongercompensate,attheUTS,the
crosssectionalareachangesfasterthantheincreaseinstressandastrainsofteningresponseisseen,
up to failure. The maximum point on the curve, UTS, occurs due to geometrical effects but does not
describetheactualstressstateinthespecimen.Remember,thisdatacomesfromthetestingapparatus.
If determining the actual stress state of the material is of importance, e.g. for use in a finite element
simulationthenadifferentmetricwillbeneedtobeusedtodescribethematerialbehavior.Knowingthis
andhowtoconvertthereporteddataiskey.Letsconvertitforuseinasimulation.
Firstoff,onlysomuchinformationcanbeobtainedfromthisdata.Theequationsthatrelateengineering
stress and strain to the true stress and strain of the material are valid up to the UTS. Afterwards, the
instantaneouscrosssectionalareawouldneedtobemeasuredintesttoderivewhatthetruestressand
strainrelationshipwas.
Once the material has gone plastic, further deformation is isochoric. The plasticflow regime has a
negligiblechangeinvolume,i.e.thePoissonsratioiscloseto0.5.Thisallowsforthechangeinlength
toberelatedtothechangeinareaandtheengineeringstressstrain(ee)datacanbeconvertedinto
truestressstrain(tt)datauptotheUTSwiththefollowingequations:

t=e(1+e),t=ln(1+e)
Ifthebothsetsofdataareplottedinthesamechart,theywouldlookasshownbelow:

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UsingStressStrainDatainaFiniteElementSimulation|CAEAssociates

StructuralanalysiscodesmayrequirethatthestressstraindatabeinputintermsoftheTrueStress
versustheTruePlasticStrain.Inwhichcase,thedatacanbeconvertedasfollows:
CalculatetheModulus=TrueStressatYield/TrueTotalStrainatYield
Next,convertthe Engineering data to True data based on the equations above. Then subtract off the
TrueElasticStrainfromtheTrueTotalStrainateachpointtofindtheTruePlasticStrain(TruePlastic
Strain=TrueTotalStrainTrueStress/Modulus).
Usingactualdata,theconversionisshownbelow:

Someimportantpointsaboutthisdata:
1)ThefirstpointontheTrueStressTrueTotalStaincurvedefinestheslopeortheelasticresponseof
thematerial(i.e.theModulus,thereforethesepointsmustmatchbyHookesLaw:Stress=Modulus*
Strain).
2)AteachTrueTotalStrainincrement,TrueElasticStrain(theTrueStressatthatincrementdividedby
themodulus)issubtractedofftodeterminethecorrespondingTruePlasticStrain.
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UsingStressStrainDatainaFiniteElementSimulation|CAEAssociates

3)TheTrueTotalStrainatyieldisequivalenttotheTrueElasticStrainandtheTruePlasticStrainatthis
pointiszero.
4) If the simulation code allows for the input of stress versus total strain, the first point input should
correspondtotheTrueStressatYieldandTrueTotalStrainatYield.
5) If the simulation code allows for the input of stress versus plastic strain, the first point input should
correspondtotheTrueStressatYieldandTruePlasticStrainatYield(whichwillbeinputaszero).
6) The True stress strain data is calculated up to the ultimate strength of the test data.Simulation
codesmayassumethatthematerialisperfectlyplasticafterthispoint(i.e.strainwillcontinuetoincrease
withoutanincreaseinstress).

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