Numerical integration of the incrementally non-linear, zero elastic range, bounding surface plasticity model for sand

Abstract

SANISAND-Z is a recently developed plasticity model for sands with zero purely elastic range in stress space within the framework of Bounding Surface (BS) plasticity. As a consequence of zero elastic range the plastic strain increment direction, and consequently the elastic-plastic moduli fourth order tensor depends on the direction of the stress increment, rendering the model incrementally non-linear and intrinsically implicit. An iterative algorithm based on the Backward Euler method is presented to solve the non-linear system of ordinary differential equations. A non-traditional consistency condition based on the plastic multiplier is introduced as a core element of the system. A thorough analysis of the stability and accuracy of the algorithm is presented based on error estimation. The proposed integration scheme allows the use of SANISAND-Z framework in Finite Element Analysis.