Strip yield model application for thermal cyclic loading

An extension of the strip yield model towards the calculation of crack opening and closure under non-isothermal loading conditions is the main prerequisite for its applicability in thermal fatigue analy- ses. The aim of this contribution is to implement a new proposal to this feature. Here, the yield stress is allowed to be location and time dependent. With this extension, the cyclic crack tip opening displacements, DCTOD, can be calculated. They are assumed to be related uniquely to the crack growth rate. The corresponding empirical relationship is derived from conventional isothermal fatigue crack growth behaviour of steels. Its integration leads to fatigue crack growth curves and lives