Numerical study on patterning of shear bands in a Cosserat continuum (Q684236)

Numerical simulation of patters of shear bands in biaxial compression tests using an elasto-plastic Cosserat constitutive equation is presented, having in mind geomaterials such as soils and rocks, though in the approach phenomena typical for geomaterials, as dilatancy and compressibility, are disregarded, the yield stress is assumed to coincide with the plastic potential, and also to be independent of the mean stress. Random distribution of the material properties acts as a trigger for the localized deformation. Two types of stress-strain curves, namely strain softening and strain softening followed by strain hardening, are investigated. It is shown that the characteristic of the stress-strain curve is crucial for the patterning of shear bands. While calculations with the stress-strain curve with solely softening yield only one single shear band, a flock of shear bands can be obtained with the stress-strain curve with softening followed by hardening. Benefited from the characteristic length provided by the Cosserat elasto-plastic constitutive equation, the dependence of the calculation on the mesh-size is avoided.