A novel internal dissipation inequality by isotropy and its implication for inelastic constitutive characterization

In the present work a novel inelastic deformation caused internal dissipation inequality by isotropy is revealed. This inequality has the most concise form among a variety of internal dissipation inequalities, including the one widely used in constitutive characterization of isotropic finite strain elastoplasticity and viscoelasticiy. Further, the evolution term describing the difference between the rate of deformation tensor and the “principal rate” of the elastic logarithmic strain tensor is set, according to the standard practice by isotropy, to equal a rank-two isotropic tensor function of the corresponding branch stress, with the tensor function having an eigenspace identical to the eigenspace of the branch stress tensor. Through that a general form of evolution equation for the elastic logarithmic strain is formulated and some interesting and important results are derived. Namely, by isotropy the evolution of the elastic logarithmic strain tensor is embodied separately by the evolutions of its eigenvalues and eigenprojections, with the evolution of the eigenprojections driven by the rate of deformation tensor and the evolution of the eigenvalues connected to specific material behavior. It can be proved that by isotropy the evolution term in the present dissipation inequality stands for the essential form of the evolution term in the extensively applied dissipation inequality.