Generalization of Integration Methods for Complex Inelastic Constitutive Equations with State Variables

Abstract

The prediction of the inelastic behavior of the structure is an essential part of reliability assessment procedure, because most of the failures are induced by the inelastic deformation, such as creep and plastic deformation. During decades, there has been much progress in understanding of the inelastic behavior of the materials and a lot of inelastic constitutive equations have been developed. These equations consist of the definition of inelastic strain and the evolution of the state variables introduced to quantify the irreversible processes occurred in the material. With respect to the definition of the inelastic strain, the inelastic constitutive models can be categorized into elastoplastic model, unified viscoplastic model and separated viscoplastic model and the different integration methods have been applied to each category. In the present investigation, the generalized integration method applicable for various types of constitutive equations is developed and implemented into ABAQUS by means of UMAT subroutine. The solution of the non-linear system of algebraic equations arising from time discretization with the generalized midpoint rule is determined using line-search technique in combination with Newton method. The strategy to control the time increment for the improvement of the accuracy of the numerical integration is proposed. Several numerical examples are considered to demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the present method. The prediction of the inelastic behavior of the structure is an essential part of reliability assessment procedure, because most of the failures are induced by the inelastic deformation, such as creep and plastic deformation. During decades, there has been much progress in understanding of the inelastic behavior of the materials and a lot of inelastic constitutive equations have been developed. These equations consist of the definition of inelastic strain and the evolution of the state variables introduced to quantify the irreversible processes occurred in the material. With respect to the definition of the inelastic strain, the inelastic constitutive models can be categorized into elastoplastic model, unified viscoplastic model and separated viscoplastic model and the different integration methods have been applied to each category. In the present investigation, the generalized integration method applicable for various types of constitutive equations is developed and implemented into ABAQUS by means of UMAT subroutine. The solution of the non-linear system of algebraic equations arising from time discretization with the generalized midpoint rule is determined using line-search technique in combination with Newton method. The strategy to control the time increment for the improvement of the accuracy of the numerical integration is proposed. Several numerical examples are considered to demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the present method.