Plane-Strain Problems

This chapter is concerned with the formulations and solutions for plane plastic flow. In plane plastic flow, velocities of all points occur in planes parallel to a certain plane, say the (x, y) plane, and are independent of the distance from that plane. The Cartesian components of the velocity vector u are ux(x, y), uy(x, y), and uz = 0. For analyzing the deformation of rigid-perfectly plastic and rate-insensitive materials, a mathematically sound slip-line field theory was established (see the books on metal forming listed in Chap. 1). The solution techniques have been well developed, and the collection of slip-line solutions now available is large. Although these slip-line solutions provide valuable insight into deformation modes and forming loads, slip-line field analysis becomes unwieldy for nonsteady-state problems where the field has to be updated as deformation proceeds to account for changes in material boundaries. Furthermore, the neglect of work-hardening, strain-rate, and temperature effects is inappropriate for certain types of problems. Many investigators, notably Oxley and his co-workers, have attempted to account for some of these effects in the construction of slip-line fields. However, by so doing, the problem becomes analytically difficult, and recourse is made to experimental determination of velocity fields, similarly to the visioplasticity method. Some of this work is summarized in Reference [2]. The applications of the finite-element method are particularly effective to the problems for which the slip-line solutions are difficult to obtain. The finite-element formulation specific to plane flow is recapitulated here.