Realistic Modeling of Structural Steels with Yield Plateau Using Abaqus/Standard

A new model for structural steel with capabilities to model yield plateau, as well as cyclic behavior is introduced. The model is incorporated into Abaqus/Standard through UMAT. Numerical results are presented for an application in earthquake engineering, where a steel bridge pier is excited with a quasi-static cyclic lateral load. Hysteresis loops and buckling patterns obtained from the computational model are compared with published experimental results. In this paper implementation of a constitutive model for structural steels with yield plateau into Abaqus/Standard via user element subroutines (UMAT) is presented. A brief description of the model, which is capable of capturing the response of the material for monotonic and cyclic loading conditions, is given. A practical application is presented to show the accuracy and capability of the developed model. Comparisons between the results obtained using the proposed model and the material models available in Abaqus/Standard are also presented.