An implicit integration scheme for generalized viscoplasticity with dynamic recovery (Q1271595)

The paper deals with the local (integration point) time integration of viscoplastic (i.e. time-dependent) models with small deformations, described by a set of first-order differential equations that are nonlinear and coupled. The constitutive equations account for both long- and short-term material behavior, via internal tensorial variables. For the fully implicit backward Euler integration scheme, it is necessary to write local updated expressions for stress and internal variables, and to form the residual vectors involved in the iterative implicit scheme and in the appropriate internal increments. The authors derive consistent, asymmetric tangent stiffness directly from the integration scheme. The concept of line search is applied at the local constitutive level, to adjust the suitable increment of stress and of internal variables in such a way to guarantee their convergence at the material points, independently of the global iterations. The authors perform a number of numerical tests for viscoplastic models: uniaxial cyclic and strain-controlled loadings, stress relaxation, non-proportional loading, which demonstrate the capabilities and various aspects of the implicit iterative algorithm. Finally, the authors discuss a structural problem with non-homogeneous stress states and deformation.