A probabilistic methodology has been developed for fracture-mechanics analysis of nonlinear cracked structures. The methodology involves nonlinear ®nite element analysis using well-known commercial codes; statistical models for uncertainty in material constitutive law, fracture toughness, and loads; and standard reliability methods for evaluating probabilistic characteristics of elastic±plastic...

A mesoscopic model of amorphous plasticity is discussed in the context of depinning models. After embedding in a d+1-dimensional space, where the accumulated plastic strain lives along the additional dimension, the gradual plastic deformation of amorphous media can be regarded as the motion of an elastic manifold in a disordered landscape. While the associated depinning transition leads to scal...

This study presents a new strategy for the identification of material parameters in the case of restricted or redundant data, based on a hybrid approach combining a genetic algorithm and the Levenberg-Marquardt method. The proposed methodology consists essentially in a statistically based topological analysis of the search domain, after this one has been reduced by the analysis of the parameter...

Uniaxial and triaxial compression tests on steel fibre reinforced shotcrete (SFRS) have been used to quantify the elastic–plastic response behaviour for both the peak and post-peak regions. The laboratory tests were conducted with a servo-controlled testing machine to obtain complete stress–strain curves. The test results include unconfined and triaxial compressive strengths, shear strengths an...

The problem of plastic spin is phrased in terms of a notion of mechanical equivalence among local intermediate configurations of an elastic/plastic crystalline solid. This idea is used to show that, without further qualification, the plastic spin may be suppressed at the constitutive level. However, the spin is closely tied to an underlying undistorted crystal lattice which, once specified, eli...

Bar frame modelling is a popular method in coupled shear wall systems in structural design. In this process, determining the stiffness of the tie beams is important. In this study, results obtained by finite-element analysis of R/C coupled shear wall systems having several geometries in elastic-plastic space are considered. Using SPSS (Ver.5.0) statistical package program, an equivalent tie bea...

Thermo-Elasto-Plastic analyses of thick-walled spherical tanks made of functionally graded materials are investigated analytically. These tanks are subjected to positive or negative temperature gradient and internal pressure loadings separately or simultaneously. The power law modeling has been used for through-the-thickness variation of mechanical properties. von Mises yield criterion and Elas...

1. Abstract In the past few decades plastic layout optimization methods have been largely ignored in favour of those based upon elastic design principles. However, when multiple load cases are present elastic methods are generally computationally expensive and/or are prone to finding local optima. Therefore, they may not at present provide a suitable basis for practical truss layout optimizatio...