Limit and shakedown analysis under hydrogen embrittlement condition

A modified shakedown theorem and its solving technique are presented to involve hydrogen embrittlement of steel into limit and shakedown analysis. Firstly, the shakedown theorem for hydrogen embrittled material is derived from a limited kinematic hardening shakedown theorem and hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement. In the presented theorem, hydrogen’s effect is taken into account by the synergistic action of both strength reduction and stress redistribution. Secondly, a novel solving technique is developed based on the basis reduction method, in which the complicated constraints in the resulting nonlinear mathematical programming are released. At last, three numerical examples are carried out to verify the performance of the proposed method and to reveal hydrogen’s effect on the limit and shakedown load of structure. The numerical results are discussed and compared with those from literatures, which proves the accuracy and high efficiency of the introduced solving technique. It is concluded that the proposed theorem can predict the limit and shakedown load of hydrogen embrittled structure reasonably.