Damage of structural materials under complex low-cycle loading

On the basis of the concepts of the continuum mechanics of damage, we propose an engineering method for the analysis of the kinetics of accumulation of scattered defects in metallic structural materials under conditions of elastoplastic deformation and low-cycle fatigue. It is shown that, in the general case of complex loading for the complex stress state, it is reasonable to use the specific energy of additional stresses (with regard for the arc of plastic strains in a loading cycle) as a parameter of damage for two types of fracture (rupture and shear). __________ Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 6, pp. 25–34, November–December, 2007.