2010 SECTION VIII, DIVISION 2
5-80
ANNEX 5.C
ALTERNATIVE PLASTICITY ADJUSTMENT FACTORS AND
EFFECTIVE ALTERNATING STRESS FOR ELASTIC FATIGUE
ANALYSIS
(NORMATIVE)
5.C.1 Scope
5.C.1.1 This Annex contains procedures for the determination of plasticity correction factors and effective
alternating equivalent stress for elastic fatigue analysis. These procedures include a modified Poisson’s ratio
adjustment for local thermal and thermal bending stresses, a notch plasticity adjustment factor that is applied
to thermal bending stresses, and a non-local plastic strain redistribution adjustment that is applied to all
stresses except local thermal and thermal bending stresses. These procedures are an alternative to effective
alternating stress calculations in Step 4 of paragraph 5.5.3.2.
5.C.2 Definitions
5.C.2.1 Thermal Bending Stress - Thermal bending stress is caused by the linear portion of the through-wall
temperature gradient. Such stresses shall be classified as secondary stresses.
5.C.2.2 Local Thermal Stress - Local thermal stress is associated with almost complete suppression of the
differential expansion and thus produces no significant distortion. Such stresses shall be considered only
from the fatigue standpoint and are therefore classified as peak stresses. Examples of local thermal stresses
are the stress in a small hot spot in a vessel wall, the non-linear portion of a through-wall temperature
gradient in a cylindrical shell, and the thermal stress in a cladding material that has a coefficient of expansion
different from that of the base metal. Local thermal stresses are characterized by having two principal
stresses that are approximately equal.
5.C.3 Effective Alternating Stress for Elastic Fatigue Analysis
5.C.3.1 The effective total equivalent stress amplitude is used to evaluate the fatigue damage for results
obtained from a linear elastic stress analysis. The controlling stress for the fatigue evaluation is the effective
total equivalent stress amplitude, defined as one-half of the effective total equivalent stress range
()
Lb
PPQF+++
calculated for each cycle in the loading histogram.
5.C.3.2 The following procedure shall be used to determine plasticity correction factors for elastic fatigue
analysis and the effective alternating equivalent stress.
a) STEP 1 – At the point of interest, determine the following stress tensors and associated equivalent
stresses at the start and end points (time points
m
t
and
n
t
, respectively) for the
th
k
cycle counted in
Step 2 of paragraph 5.5.3.2.
1) Calculate the component stress range between time points
m
t and
n
t and compute an equivalent
stress range due to primary plus secondary plus peak stress as given below.