Numerical analysis of evolution problems in nonlinear small strains elastoviscoplasticity (Q1121704)

This paper introduces the mathematical and numerical analysis of two- dimensional small strain viscoplasticity problems, written as an abstract evolution problem. The constitutive model is of Burger's type, which is general enough two include Maxwell, Kelvin and isotropic plasticity with four internal variables. The problem solution is obtained by finite elements in space, coupled with Euler's backward discretization in time and a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm for the resulting nonlinear equations. Three numerical examples are included to illustrate this interesting procedure.