Mechanical properties of material in Q345GJ-C thick steel plates

Thick steel plate is commonly found with mega steel structures but its properties have not been fully explored. Grade Q345GJ-C steel plate with thickness ranging from 60 mm to 120 mm are studied in this paper. Both the static and cyclic performance of material in different directions (horizontal and through-thickness directions) and locations (outer surface, 1/4 thickness and mid-depth) are experimentally obtained. The accumulative damage during cyclic loading is also calculated by using bilinear mixed hardening (BMH) constitutive relationship together with the Lemaitre's damage model. Results show that the static properties are better at the outer surface of thick steel plates than those at mid-depth. Properties in through-thickness direction are similar to those at mid-depth in the horizontal direction. The cyclic performance at different locations of a given plate is similar within the range of strain amplitude studied. However, when damage parameters identified from monotonic tensile tests are included in the numerical simulation of cyclic loading tests, damage is found accumulating faster at mid-depth than close to outer surface.