On the well-posedness of the initial value problem in elasto-plastodynamics for a linear comparison solid (Q1922000)

The authors analyse the existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence of the solutions on initial and boundary data using a technique due to H. O. Kreiss. The results concern elastodynamics and elasto-plastodynamics with associated and non-associated flow rules. It is assumed that the material response remains within the same constitutive cone (excluding loading/unloading regions). The result obtained for the two-dimensional case is the condition for strong ellipticity, which up to now was known only to be sufficient but which, according to the analysis, is also shown to be necessary. Additional assumptions are imposed on the elastic constitutive tensor and on the tensor giving the directions of plastic flow and the directions of the unit normal to the yield surface. These tensors are assumed to be diagonal in the same reference system and to differ only in their volumetric parts.