Modeling of development of localized plastic deformation and prefracture stage in mesovolumes of heterogeneous media

Mesovolumes of materials are the objects of investigation in this paper. Th ese volumes containing significant elements of internal structure of materi al are investigated by numerical methods of continuous media mechanics. The purpose of the research is numerical modeling of localized deformation at the mesoscale. Results of the calculations show that joint influence of het erogeneities of internal structure of material and action of maximum shear stresses results in localized development of plastic deformation as a syste m of shear bands. They are accompanied by formation of bulk structural elem ents, which move as units relatively to each other. It is shown that rotati ons in the regions of strain localization are higher than in the other part s of the specimen.