Symmetric Galerkin boundary element method in plasticity and gradient plasticity (Q1910944)

A boundary integral equation formulation and a boundary element method which confer symmetry to key operators are described with reference to quasi-static plasticity. This formulation is based on the combined use of static and kinematic sources, on Galerkin weighted residual enforcement of integral equations for displacements and tractions along the boundary and for stresses in the potentially yielding domain, and on space discretizations in terms of generalized variables in Prager's sense. The subjectivity (mesh-dependence) implied by material instability is illustrated by examples.