Modeling of high temperature creep in ASTM A992 structural steels

• Physical mechanisms underlying the creep phenomenon in metals are discussed.
• Commonly used creep models are presented in a consistent modeling framework.
• A high temperature constitutive creep model for ASTM A992 steel is presented.
• Constitutive model parameters are provided that best fit the experimental creep data.
• Creep buckling analyses shows that creep can play an important role at high temperatures and/or loads.

Creep in structural steels at high temperatures has been widely observed in experiments; however its inclusion in numerical simulations has been limited due to lack of experimental creep data and the corresponding constitutive model for ASTM A992 structural steels. Recently published experimental creep data for ASTM A992 steels (Morovat et al., 2012) helped alleviate the first problem and this paper addresses the second issue related to modeling of high temperature creep. To this end, first the physical mechanisms underlying the creep phenomenon in metals are revisited and the frameworks for modeling high temperature creep are discussed. A hyperbolic sine model is then used to fit the experimental creep data for ASTM A992 steel and the corresponding best fit parameters are provided. Finally, high temperature creep buckling of ASTM A992 steel columns is examined and it is shown that creep can play an important role, especially at high temperatures and/or loads.