LOADING AND UNLOADING OF HIGHLY ANISOTROPIC ELASTIC-PLASTIC BEAMS

THIS PAPER IS CONCERNED with finite plane deformations of a cantilever beam composed of an elastic plastic fibre-reinforced material. The re inforcing fibres are all aligned along the beam and the composite mate rial is assumed to be inextensible in the fibre direction and is incom pressible. The upper surface is subjected to either a vertical, unifor m dead load or a uniform live load, and both are subsequently unloaded . In each case, when sufficiently large forces are applied and then re moved, regions of reverse plastic yield are found to occur near the bu ilt-in edge. Non-trivial residual displacement fields are determined w hen the beam is completely unloaded.