A new model of generalized plasticity and its numerical implementation

A previously proposed simple model of generalized plasticity is modified so that it allows behavior that is asymptotically perfectly plastic or strain-softening. Initially presented in uniaxial form, the model is then generalized to multiaxial stress. Numerical implementation is developed first through direct integration of the rate equations, including special cases in which the solution may be obtained analytically, and then by means of a return-map algorithm, which is particularly well suited to the finite-element method; consistent algorithmic tangent moduli are derived as well. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the various approaches.