Conditions for mechanical self-annealing in motions of elastic-plastic oscillators (Q749290)

The paper treats by a mathematically rigorous manner some important aspects of the theory of unibased oscillators with elastic-plastic restoring force. From the simultaneous action of an elastic spring results a force-elongation relation corresponding to a linear hardening rule, here called ``bilinear hysteretic'' behaviour. The dynamics of the oscillator studied are described in a three-dimensional state space consisting of the velocity, the elastic and the plastic elongation. It is shown that the initial value problem has a unique solution being composed of elastic and plastic segments patched together. The equilibrium states are proved to be stable by means of a Lyapunov function. Further the behaviour at large times is examined: Depending only on the stiffness ratio the plastic elongation tends to zero undergoing infinitely many plastic segments - here called ``self-annealing'' - or reaches possibly a final plastic displacement not being zero in finite time with a finite number of plastic segments.