MODELING PLASTICITY IN FINITE BODIES CONTAINING STRESS-CONCENTRATIONSBY A DISTRIBUTED DISLOCATION METHOD

An efficient method for the analysis of limited plasticity at stress r aising features such as notches and holes in finite bodies has been de veloped. A network of stationary dislocations is used to simulate the plasticity and simple constant displacement boundary elements form the borders of the geometries. The notch or hole itself is implicitly inc luded in the formulation by using specialized kernels for these featur es in an infinite plane, thereby improving the numerical efficiency. T he cyclic plastic behaviour of an edge-notch in an infinite plane and a finite rectangular plate are analysed under elastic-perfectly plasti c, plane strain conditions. Examples of the resulting stress state aft er stress redistribution and plastic shakedown are displayed which aid in the reliable prediction of component life.