A new boundary element technique without domain integrals for elastoplastic solids (original) (raw)

A simple idea is proposed to solve boundary value problems for elastoplastic solids via boundary elements, namely, to use the Green's functions corresponding to both the loading and unloading branches of the tangent constitutive operator to solve for plastic and elastic regions, respectively. In this way, domain integrals are completely avoided in the boundary integral equations. Though a discretization of the region where plastic flow occurs still remains necessary to account for the inhomogeneity of plastic deformation, the elastoplastic analysis reduces, in essence, to a straightforward adaptation of techniques valid for anisotropic linear elastic constitutive equations (the loading branch of the elastoplastic constitutive operator may be viewed formally as a type of anisotropic elastic law). Numerical examples, using J 2 -flow theory with linear hardening, demonstrate that the proposed method retains all the advantages related to boundary element formulations, is stable and performs well.