On The Stress-wave Focusing Effect In Elastoviscoplastic Solids

Abstract

The accumulation of stresses in certain zones of a solid, due to the interfering effects of the reflected waves from the boundaries, is known as the stress-focusing phenomenon. This paper proposes to study this effect due to both mechanical and thermal loadings by a coupled thermo-mechanical analysis of an elastic-viscoplastic hollow sphere and a cylindrical cell containing a spherical cavity. The numerical results highlight the high-peaking hoop stress and rises in temperature on the surface of the cavity. The focusing effect increases as the ratio of the internal radius to the external radius decreases. The conclusions of this study are useful to evaluate the dynamic structural strength of the spherical shells as well as the micromechanical analysis of the behaviour of a representative unit cell of damaged material.