Large strain elastic-plastic theory and nonlinear finite element analysis based on metric transformation tensors

The present paper is concerned with an efficient framework for a nonlinear finite element procedure for the rate-independent finite strain analysis of solids undergoing large elastic-plastic deformations. The formulation relies on the introduction of a mixed-variant metric transformation tensor which will be multiplicatively decomposed into a plastic and an elastic part. This leads to the definition of an appropriate logarithmic strain measure whose rate is shown to be additively decomposed into elastic and plastic strain rate tensors. The mixed-variant logarithmic elastic strain tensor provides a basis for the definition of a local isotropic hyperelastic stress response in the elastic-plastic solid. Additionally, the plastic material behavior is assumed to be governed by a generalized J(2) yield criterion and rate-independent isochoric plastic strain rates are computed using an associated flow rule. On the numerical side, the computation of the logarithmic strain tensors is based on Ist and higher order Pade approximations. Estimates of the stress and strain histories are obtained via a highly stable and accurate explicit scalar integration procedure which employs a plastic predictor followed by an elastic corrector step. The development of a consistent elastic-plastic tangent operator as well as its implementation into a nonlinear finite element program will also be discussed. Finally, the numerical solution of finite strain elastic-plastic problems is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm.