Limit analysis of anisotropic structures based on the kinematic theorem. (Q5961131)

The paper considers perfectly plastic materials with a yield condition of the form \(\Phi(\sigma) = F_{ij}\sigma_{ij} + F_{ijkl}\sigma_{ij}\sigma_{kl}\leqslant 1\), corresponding to a second-order truncation of the tensor polynomial expression proposed by S.~W.~Tsai and E.~M.~Wu for failure criteria. Such an expression is often employed for materials exhibiting particular forms of anisotropic failure properties, including orthotropic ones, and accounts for non-symmetric strengths. A general expression for the dissipation power as an explicit function of strain rates is provided for perfectly plastic materials with the above yield condition. On this basis, the limit analysis problem is formulated via the kinematic theorem for solids other than isotropic, reducing to the search of the constrained minimum of a convex functional, and the collapse multiplier computed by means of available and numerically efficient techniques. The result contains as a particular case the expression for Hill's orthotropic condition, which was recently developed by the authors [Int. J. Solids Struct. 38, No. 22--23, 3945--3963 (2001; Zbl 0987.74017)] and employed for the solution of plane strain problems. The main novelty is that the present formulation accounts for nonsymmetric strength properties. The failure criteria considered cannot represent every kind of anisotropy. Materials such as those called hexatropic or octotropic, with identical uniaxial properties along directions mutually inclined of 60\(^\circ\) and 45\(^\circ\) respectively, demand stress terms of order higher than second. Also for orthotropic or tetratropic materials, a quadratic criterion is merely the simplest possible one, and more refined models might be required to reach an adequate accuracy. In this enlarged framework, the application of the limit analysis procedure proposed is faced with the problem of minimizing the dissipation power. The results obtained permit the direct computation of the limit loads for a number of anisotropic situations and can be regarded as a first step in a virtually unexplored field. Some attention is in fact devoted to anisotropic elastic-plastic evolution analysis or large strain rigid-plastic ones. The result is specialized to plane stress orthotropy, and an example is worked out.