Finite element analyses of three-dimensional fully plastic solutions using quasi-nonsteady algorithm and tetrahedral elements (Q1331398)

This paper describes a finite element method for determining fully plastic three-dimensional solutions of problems having crack geometries. The fully plastic constitutive law is based on \(J_2\)-deformation theory with a power law relating equivalent strain to equivalent stress. The problem is formulated as a mixed variational problem with unknown displacement and pressure. This nonlinear system is perturbed by introducing an artificial viscosity, and the resulting evolution system is solved by a fractional step method, which allows the displacement and pressure to be solved sequentially rather than simultaneously, in an iterative procedure. The authors address the issue of proper selection of the artificial viscosity matrix, as well as pre- and post-processing as mesh generation for complex crack geometries, and calculation of the \(J\)-integral. In order to facilitate automatic mesh generation, tetrahedral elements are used. Results are presented on the detailed analysis of a center-cracked plate subjected to uniform tension. With a proper selection of time step, the method proposed is stable and yields accurate results.