ABSTRACTOn the basis of the Bauschinger effect, a relationship between the elastic space defined in this study and the accumulated plastic strain is measured in uniaxial ratcheting tests of 304 stainless steel at room temperature. According to this relationship, a new model of uniaxial ratcheting is established and used to simulate uniaxial ratcheting behavior. The results of simulation agree well with the experimental results. These results demonstrate that the relationship between the elastic space and the accumulated plastic strain plays an important role in uniaxial ratcheting simulation. Furthermore, by taking into account the interaction of ratcheting and viscoplasticity, the relationships among elastic space, accumulated plastic strain and loading cases are discussed. It can be seen that, when the stress ratio R of valley stress versus peak stress is not less than zero, the accumulated plastic strain is a function of the peak stress. So, a constitutive curve is obtained to describe the stable states of plastic shakedown for 304 stainless steel material under the stress ratio R ≥ 0. It can be used to determine the accumulated plastic strain of engineering structures under cyclic loading only by an elastic–plastic analysis.