A method for the approximate solution of quasi-static problems for hardening bodies

A method for the approximate solution of quasi-static problems for hardening elastoplastic bodies is proposed. The constitutive relation of the model is taken in the form of a variational inequality. An approximate solution of the initial problem is constructed in time steps and, by means of the finite element method, is reduced to the solution of a system of two variational inequalities in corresponding finite-dimensional space. It is shown that the solution of this system is equivalent to finding the saddle point of the corresponding quadratic functional. To find the saddle point, Udzawa's algorithm is used, by means of which the process of finding the velocity vector and stress tensor reduces to the successive calculation of these quantities: the velocity vector is determined from the variational inequality corresponding to the equilibrium equation, and the stress tensor is determined from the variational inequality corresponding to the constitutive relation. The latter inequality is reduced to a certain non-linear equation containing the operation of projection onto a closed convex set corresponding to the elastic strains of the medium. In turn, the solution of the non-linear equation is constructed using the method of successive approximations. To illustrate the use of the proposed method, the one-dimensional problem of the quasi-static deformation of a cylindrical tube under a load applied to its internal surface is considered.