Summary
Gradient‐dependent plasticity can be used to achieve mesh‐objective results upon loss of well‐posedness of the initial/boundary value problem because of the introduction of strain softening, non‐associated flow, and geometric nonlinearity. A prominent class of gradient plasticity models considers a dependence of the yield strength on the Laplacian of the hardening parameter, usually an invariant of the plastic strain tensor. This inclusion causes the consistency condition to become a partial differential equation, in addition to the momentum balance. At the internal moving boundary, one has to impose appropriate boundary conditions on the hardening parameter or, equivalently, on the plastic multiplier. This internal boundary condition can be enforced without tracking the elastic‐plastic boundary by requiring
C1‐continuity with respect to the plastic multiplier. In this contribution, this continuity has been achieved by using nonuniform rational B‐splines as shape functions both for the plastic multiplier and for the displacements. One advantage of this isogeometric analysis approach is that the displacements can be interpolated one order higher, making it consistent with the interpolation of the plastic multiplier. This is different from previous approaches, which have been exploited. The regularising effect of gradient plasticity is shown for 1‐ and 2‐dimensional boundary value problems.
Higher-order strain-gradient models are relevant for engineering materials which exhibit size-dependent behaviour as observed from experiments. Typically, this class of models incorporate a length scale-related to micromechanical material properties-to capture size effects, remove stress singularities, or regularise an ill-posed boundary value problem resulting from localisation of deformation. The higher-order continuity requirement on shape functions can be met using NURBS discretisation, as is considered herein. However, NURBS have a tensor-product nature which makes selective refinement cumbersome. To maintain accuracy and efficiency in analysis, a finer mesh may be required, to capture a localisation band, certain geometrical features, or in regions with high gradients. This work presents straingradient elasticity and strain-gradient plasticity, both of second-order, with hierarchically refined NURBS. Refinement is performed based on a multi-level mesh with element-wise hierarchical basis functions interacting through an inter-level subdivison operator. This ensures a standard finite-element data structure. Suitable marking strategies have been used to select elements for refinement. The capability of the numerical schemes is demonstrated with two-dimensional examples.
Summary
Implicit gradient plasticity models incorporate higher‐order spatial gradients via an additional Helmholtz type equation for the plastic multiplier. So far, the enrichment has been limited to second‐order spatial gradients, resulting in a formulation that can be discretised using
C0‐continuous finite elements. Herein, an implicit gradient plasticity model is formulated that includes a fourth‐order gradient term as well. A comparison between the localisation properties of both the implicit gradient plasticity formulations and the explicit second‐order gradient plasticity model is made using a dispersion analysis. The higher‐order continuity requirement for the fourth‐order implicit gradient plasticity model has been met by exploiting the higher‐order continuity property of isogeometric analysis, which uses nonuniform rational B‐splines as shape functions instead of Lagrange polynomials. The discretised variables, displacements, and plastic multiplier may require different orders of interpolation, an issue that is also addressed. Numerical results show that both formulations can be used as a localisation limiter, but that quantitative differences occur, and a different evolution of the localisation band is obtained for 2‐dimensional problems.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.