Experimental and numerical creep–fatigue study of Type 316 stainless steel failure under high temperature LCF loading condition with different hold time

•Strain-controlled LCF tests were conducted at 650°C on various strain ranges.•Symmetrical hold time introduced to observe the interaction of creep/fatigue.•Microstructural investigations conducted using scanning electron microscope (SEM).•Energy density method employed to identify the cycle number at different stages.•Hysteresis energy-based damage model combined with time fraction creep model in FE. Fully-reversed, strain-controlled isothermal tests were conducted on the Type 316FR at 650°C for the strain ranges of Δɛ=±0.4%, ±0.8%, ±1.0% and ±1.2%. A constitutive model based on isotropic and nonlinear kinematic hardening rules was used to replicate numerically the cyclic structural behaviour of the material until stabilisation. Finally to demonstrate the damage initiation and the damage evolution, a hysteresis energy-based phenomenological model was implemented in a user subroutine combined with a creep damage model based on the time-fraction law to replicate the experimental results.