Plane-stress deformation in strain gradient plasticity

A systematic approach is proposed to derive the governing equations and boundary conditions for strain gradient plasticity in plane-stress deformation, The displacements, strains, stresses, strain gradients and higher-order stresses in three-dimensional strain gradient plasticity are expanded into a power series of the thickness h in the out-of-plane direction. The governing equations and boundary conditions for plane stress are obtained by taking the limit h-->0. It is shown that, unlike in classical plasticity theories, the in-plane boundary conditions and even the order of governing equations for plane stress art quite different from those for plane strain. The kinematic relations, constitutive laws, equilibrium equation, and boundary conditions for plane-stress strain gradient plasticity are summarized in the paper. [S0021-8936(00)02301-1].