Based on the generalized Maxwell-model, a viscoelastic material approach fo
r steady-state rolling structures has been developed. Unlike a transient fi
nite element formulation the final state is attained in a few load incremen
ts and just one time step. The consistent linearization of the steady-state
viscoelastic constitutive formulation leads to additional coupling matrice
s so that the number of non-zero entries in the global stiffness matrix is
increased. The steady-state formulation of the viscoelastic material approa
ch as well as the transient formulation allow the addition of so-called Pra
ndtl-elements to consider elastoplastic effects, too. Numerical results con
firm the robustness, reliability and capability of the steady-state viscoel
astic material formulation.