SOLUTION OF THE ELASTIC VISCOPLASTIC CONSTITUTIVE-EQUATIONS - A FINITE-VOLUME APPROACH

A novel two dimensional finite volume (FV) approach to the solution of elastic/visco-plastic solid mechanics problems is described. The nume rical procedure is an extension of that developed by Fryer et al. for linear elastic materials and utilizes an unstructured mesh. The proced ure is compared favorably with conventional finite element (FE) formul ations with respect to both accuracy and CPU time. A number of test pr oblems demonstrate the ability of the FV procedure to model a range of boundary constraints, in addition to mechanical and ther mal loads. I t might be argued from the work reported here that the FV approach sho ws the potential to be at least as effective as conventional FE formul ations in representing nonlinear solid mechanics behavior.