Interactive visualization of elasto-plastic behavior through stress paths and yield surfaces in finite element analysis

This paper proposes a new approach for representing elasto-plastic behavior through graphical visualization of the yield surface and the stress path in the principal stress space.The yield surface is defined by the material parameters of a given yield criterion, and the stress path is formed by a number of stress points, each of which is obtained for every increment in the applied force. The superposed images of the yield surface and the stress path can be used as a tool for interpreting the results of finite element analysis based on the assumed elasto-plastic yield theory.The paper describes how to construct the stress path and the yield surface by following procedures ranging from data extraction to graphical rendering. It suggests a framework for the interactive control of visualization and data sampling. Geometric modeling of the yield surface is formulated for various failure criteria that are frequently used in finite element analysis.Examples of stress path and yield surface visualization are presented herein to demonstrate the practical use of this approach.All of the features described in this paper can be implemented easily as a post-processing capability in finite element analysis programs.