Extension of the variational formulation of the problem for a rigid- plastic medium to velocity fields with slip-type discontinuities (Q1060048)

In order to determine the velocity field corresponding to the critical equilibrium state of the rigid plastic medium a functional is defined. The velocity field has slip-type discontinuities at the boundary of the rigid-plastic medium. The functional defined can be called a mathematical extension of the classical Lagrangian \(\int_{\Omega}\sigma:\epsilon d\Omega\); here \(\sigma\) is the stress tensor, and \(\epsilon\) is the strain tensor. It is shown that the minimum value of the extended Lagrangian is equal to the critical load coefficient. In the paper, the minimax problem with saddle point is constructed. This minimax problem can be regarded as an extension of the classical minimax problem of the theory of critical load. The author illustrates the use of his variational method by examining a simple plane problem.