Computational limit analysis of rigid-plastic bodies in plane strain

This paper deals with the computational methods for limit analysis of plane strain problems. The finite element mathematical programming formula (FE-MPF) for determining the upper bound load multiplier established by the authors earlier is adopted and modified for plane strain problems. The penalty method is used to impose the incompressibility constraint. The FE-MPF is solved by a direct iteration procedure without the need of a searching process. This algorithm is not sensitive to the volumetric locking effect. And it can be easily extended to the limit analysis of three dimensional problems. The results of numerical examples are satisfactory and show the stable convergency of the present algorithm.