Constitutive dual potentials in classical plasticity (Q1080280): Difference between revisions

In several branches of solid mechanics the constitutive relations and their inverses are expressible as tensor gradients of Legendre potentials. Exceptionally the response of classical rigid/plastic materials has never been shown to admit dual potentials of any kind. This is remedied here when the yield surface is convex and the normality flow- rule applies. The sought-for potentials are nonlinear homogeneus functions of first degree: one governs the magnitude of Cauchy stress at yield and the other the magnitude of Eulerian strain-rate via a work- equivalence norm. The duality is not of Legendre type but reflects a correspondence based on polar reciprocity. The geometrical background is developed ab initio and the construction is illustrated by several examples.