FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF 2 CYLINDRICAL EXPANSION PROBLEMS INVOLVING NEARLY INCOMPRESSIBLE MATERIAL BEHAVIOR

The displacement formulation of the finite element method is well suited to the analysis of elasto‐plasticity problems involving compressible material behaviour, but it is well known that numerical difficulties occur when the material is incompressible or nearly incompressible. The effect of these additional constraints depends on both element formulation and mesh topology. A two‐dimensional plane strain finite element formulation suitable for the solution of problems involving large strains and displacements (but small rotations) based on the isoparametric approach is described. The kinematics of deformation are defined in terms of the Eulerian strain rates that are invariably used in small strain analysis; the formulation therefore retains some of the character of small strain theory but includes additional geometrically non‐linear terms. The results of a series of plane strain finite element analyses of two cylindrical expansion problems are presented. These results confirm the previously observed trend that as Poisson's ratio approaches 0·5 then the quality of the calculated stress deteriorates. The study also indicates that the solution quality depends increasingly on mesh topology as perfect incompressibility is reached. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd