Calculation for path-domain independentJ integral with elasto-viscoplastic consistent tangent operator concept-based boundary element methods

This paper presents an elasto-viscoplastic consistent tangent operator (CTO) based boundary element formulation, and application for calculation of path-domain independentJ integrals (extension of the classicalJ integrals) in nonlinear crack analysis. When viscoplastic deformation happens, the effective stresses around the crack tip in the nonlinear region is allowed to exceed the loading surface, and the pure plastic theory is not suitable for this situation. The concept of consistency employed in the solution of increment viscoplastic problem, plays a crucial role in preserving the quadratic rate asymptotic convergence of iteractive schemes based on Newton's method. Therefore, this paper investigates the viscoplastic crack problem, and presents an implicit viscoplastic algorithm using the CTO concept in a boundary element framework for path-domain independentJ integrals. Applications are presented with two numerical examples for viscoplastic crack problems andJ integrals. The project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (9713008) and Zhejiang Natural Science Foundation Special Funds No. RC.9601