Numerical manifold method with endochronic theory for elastoplasticity analysis

Abstract

Numerical manifold method (NMM) was originally developed based on linear elastic constitutive model. For many problems it is difficult to obtain accurate results without elastoplasticity analysis, and an elastoplasticity version of NMM is needed. In this paper, the incremental endochronic theory is extended into NMM analysis and an endochronic NMM algorithm is proposed for elastoplasticity analysis. It is well known that endochronic theory is one of the widely used elastoplasticity theories which can deal with elastoplasticity problems without a yield surface and loading or unloading judgments. Numerical tests show that the proposed algorithm of endochronic NMM possesses a good accuracy. The proposed algorithm is also applied to analyze a crack problem and a soft clay foundation under traffic loading problem. Results demonstrate the convenience of the endochronic NMM in analyzing elastoplasticity discontinuous problems. © 2014 Wei Zeng et al.