Abstract
The distributed-element model is applied to the analysis of the cyclic stress-strain relation. The model regards a material as the aggregate consisting of a number of elastic-plastic elements with different yield strains. The values of the rate of hardening are the same for all of the elements, but they vary only with the number of cycles. The stress-strain behavior of a material can be obtained from summing statistically the strss-strain responses of all the elements. In order to examine the suitability of the model, the cyclic bending test was performed on plate specimens under a constant strain amplitude. From the comparison between the experiment and the theory, it is clear that the behavior of a material under cyclic stress can be predicted well by the present distributed-element model. Furthermore, this analysis is found to be useful to estimate fatigue life.
