Compurem & Strucfures Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 875-887, 1984 004>7949/84 $3.00+ .

oO
Printed in Great Britain. PergamooPressLtd.

A TANGENT MODULUS METHOD FOR RATE

DEPENDENT SOLIDS

D. PEIRCE,~ C. F. SHIH and A. NEEDLEMAN

Division of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, U.S.A.

(Received 12 November 1982; received for publication 19 April 1983)

Abstract-A one step forward gradient time integration scheme is developed which leads to a tangent
stiffness type method for rate dependent solids. Within the context of small strain theory numerical
examples are presented showing application of the method to material behaviors ranging from elastic-
nonlinearly viscous to nearly rate independent. The adaptability of this rate dependent tangent modulus
method to complex constitutive relations and to finite deformation analyses is also illustrated.

1. ITITRODUCTION where L is the tensor of elastic moduli and ( ))

In this paper we describe a simple, one step time denotes the inverse. The elastic moduli are presumed
integration method for analyzing the quasi-static to possess the symmetry L = LT, with ( ) being the
deformations of solids characterized by elastic- transpose.
viscoplastic constitutive relations. This numerical For an isotropic von Mises solid
procedure is intended for use in conjunction with the
displacement finite element method and falls into the (2.5)
class of forward gradient methods[l-41. It is, in with
essence, a generalization of the well known tangent
modulus method for rate independent solids to allow
for rate dependent material response.
We begin by describing the implementation of the (2.6)
method in the context of a small strain von Mises
viscoplastic solid. We then discuss solutions to simple
test problems, with emphasis given to behavior in two
limiting circumstances: the rate independent limit and Here, I denotes the identity tensor and E; the accumu-
the power law creep limit. Finally, generalizations to lated viscoplastic strain, is given by
more complex models of material behavior and to
finite deformation analyses are described.

2. SMALL STRAIN FORMULATION

Within the framework of small displacement gra-
dient theory and with body forces neglected the rate
form of the principle of virtual work can be written
as
Here, a superposed dot, ( ), denotes differentiation
with respect to time, u is the stress tensor, T is the
traction vector, II is the displacement vector and L is
the infinitesimal strain tensor with Cartesian com-
ponents
1 au; alli
to=- -+-
2 ( axj ax, >
In (2.1), a colon, :, is used to denote the dyadic
vroduct. i.e. 6 :6i = ti&.,.
The cbnstitutive rel&i& is specified by writing the
total strain rate, i, as the sum of an elastic strain rate,
1, and a viscoplastic strain rate, ip, so that
i = i + iP.
The elastic strain rate is given by
i=L-l:&
TPresent address: Arthur D. Little, Inc., Acorn Park,
Cambridge, MA 02140, U.S.A.
For the viscoplastic solid modeled by (2.5) there is
always a viscoplastic contribution to the strain rate,
which depends on the current stress and deformation
state, regardless of the direction of the stress rate.
Although no yield criterion is employed, the de-
(2.1) pendence of the viscoplastic strain rate on stress can
be quite abrupt as will be illustrated in the numerical
examples in Section 4. In some applications it may be
convenient to incorporate an explicit yield criterion
into (2.5) and the numerical implementation can be
modified somewhat to accommodate yielding.
Substituting (2.4) and (2.5) into (2.3) and multi-
plying through by L gives
. P-2)
ti = L:i - f(& C)P (2.8)
where
P = L:p = p:L (2.9)
since L = Lr.
For future reference we record here a relation
which will prove useful in the subsequent devel-
opment; using (2.6) and (2.Q we obtain
(2.3)
d = P:i - (p:L:p)i. (2.10)
Employing the incremental relation (2.8) directly in
(2.4) the incremental principle of virtual work leads to the
explicit Euler time integration scheme[S] in which the
finite element stiffness matrix is derived from the
elastic stiffnesses L. In certain circumstances this

875
876 D. PEIRCE et al.

approach requires extremely small time steps to en-
sure numerical stability. In the next section, we
describe a method based on an estimate of the change
in f in (2.8) during the current time increment. This
gives rise to a tangent stiffness which depends on
the magnitude of the time interval At as well as on the
material properties. For the type of viscoplastic be-
havior typical of structural metals, this tangent
stiffness is considerably reduced from the elastic
stiffness, and leads to improved numerical stability.
3. A TANGENT MODULUS METHOD FOR RATE
DEPENDENT SOLIDS
We define the increment of effective viscoplastic
strain by
2
& =L:i - 2Lp
1+ 5
(3.8)
where the tangent stiffness matrix, L, is given by
Note that L = (Ltan)T (since L is taken to be sym-
metric) and is positive definite, assuming L is, for a
sufficiently small time increment; the extreme case is
0 = 0, the simple Euler procedure, with L = L for
any time step.
In the numerical examples we will employ a vis-
coplastic strain rate relation of the form

L-Ylrn
1 . 0
AZ = C(t + At) -c(t) (3.1) t=togo
. (3.10)

and employ a linear interpolation within the time Here, to and m are material constants and g(S)
increment: specifies the strain hardening characteristics; 5 = g(E)
gives the effective stress-accumulated viscoplastic
BE = At[(l - 0):, + fI:,+J. strain curve for f = C,,.Taking the elastic moduli L to
(3.2)
be isotropic, (3.7) specializes to
Here, we use a subscript to denote the time at which 1 m
arguments of t are evaluated, i.e. if = f(C(t), t(t)).
The parameter 0 can range from 0 to 1, with 0 = 0
corresponding to a simple Euler time integration
h=3G+

5 = (QAt)h:,
0
;
dg
22
.
(3.11)

scheme. Following Shih et al.[l], we use a Taylor -.

ma i
series expansion to approximate the term f,, &, in
(3.2), The rate independent limit is m -+O, in which case
5 --t 00 (0 At f 0) and h approaches the modulus of J2
flow theory. Power law creep corresponds to constant
g(F) so that dg/dC E 0.

Next an expression for AC is obtained by multi-

4. NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
plication of (2.10) by At to give
The rate tangent modulus method discussed in
Sections 2 and 3 has been implemented in a finite
AC?= At(P:i) - AC(p:L:p). (3.4) element program with the basic element being a
quadrilateral comprised of four crossed (along the
Using (3.4) in (3.3) and then substituting into (3.2) quadrilateral diagonals) triangular linear displace-
yields ment elements. This basic quadrilateral element
configuration is well suited for elastic-plastic analyses
in the fully yielded range and under deformation
A5 = Atf f+ 0(Ar)2(P:i)g: conditions that are nearly incompressible or strictly
au incompressible (Nagtegaal et al. [6] and Needleman
. . and Shih[7]). Numerical solutions have been carried
+ (0At)AF ;; - ;: (p:L:p) . (3.5) out for a range of parameter values in order to make
I some general observations concerning the accuracy
and stability characteristics of the method.
Solving (3.5) for AE gives an expression of the form
4.1 Creep analyses of a thick-walled cylinder

1
L
Plane strain and axisymmetric analyses were car-
+&id_ (3.6) ried out for a thick-walled cylinder with an inner
1+5 h 1+5
radius a, and outer radius b; the ratio of b to a is
where taken to be 2. The finite element meshes employed in
the analyses are shown in Fig. 1; the plane strain
5; af- model has ten elements in the radial direction and
h=p.L.p_
. .
00
1
at Zi twelve elements in the circumferential direction while
(3.7) the axisymmetric model has ten elements in the radial
&(OAt)h$
a0
direction. All the calculations reported in this sub-
section are based on an elastic-creep constitutive
relation which corresponds to using g(C) = (rO, a
Now, we divide both sides of (3.6) by At and substi- constant, in (3.10). An exact solution for the steady
tute into (2.8) to obtain state problem is available for an incompressible (i.e.
 A tangent modulus method for rate dependent solids 877

Y lations are E/a, = 500, v = 0.499, i0 = 0.002 and

t m = 0.2. We introduce the reference strain L,,given by
BASIC
- several values of 0 in the range 0 I 0 I 1, and for
(b)
Fig. 1. Finite element model.of a thick walled cylinder; (a)
plane strain model; (b) axisymmetric model.
Poissons ratio v equal to 0.5) elastic-nonlinear vis-
cous solid. This solution is given in the Appendix and
is employed to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical
solutions.
The material constants for the first set of calcu-
co = a,/E and define the material dependent time t, by
ELEMENT
to = &,; subsequently all times will be normalized
with respect to to. A constant displacement rate ri/aio
of 1.0 is imposed on the inner wall of the cylinder and
the axisymmetric model shown in Fig. l(b) is em-
ployed. Numerical solutions were obtained for
x
time steps varying over 2 orders of magnitude.
With 0 = 0, the rate tangent modulus method
corresponds to the explicit Euler forward time inte-
gration scheme. Stability requires that, in a given time
increment, the increment of creep strain in any ele-
ment (or at any integration point) be less than the
elastic strain at that point multiplied by the factor
2crmwhere c(is slightly less than unity[5, 161.With the
given dimensions of the cylinder and the given mate-
rial properties, this restriction translates to a displace-
ment increment at the inner wall, AU/at,,, of less than
9.4. Since the prescribed uniform rate of expansion,
U/a& of the inner wall is 1.Othe time increment must
be less than about 0.4t,. Our computations with At/t,
less than 0.35 give stable and accurate solutions. With
At/t,, between 0.35 and 0.7 the numerical solution
oscillates, and at even larger Ats, the numerical
solution becomes unstable.
For 0 = 0.25, and with At/t,, less than 1.0, small
numerical oscillations in the transient regime are
rapidly damped out in the steady state regime. For
values of Q ranging from 0.5 to 1.0, the solutions are
stable and accurate up to At/t,, of 2.0. For values of
At/t,, greater than 2.0, the solutions remain stable but
become increasingly inaccurate.

0.6

~ EXACT

4 6 6 10
U/e%
Fig. 2. Pressure vs jnner wall displacement, U/UC,,,for a cylinder with h/a = 2.0 subject to a prescribed
displacement rate Ujui,, = 1.0. The time step is fixed at At = 0.72, and curves corresponding to 0 = 0.0,
0.25, 0.5 and 1.O are shown for m = 0.2, to = O.CO2, E/u, = 500 and v = 0.499. The exact solution is also
shown.
878 D. PEIRCE et al.

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2 ~ EXACT
f

0.0
2 4 6 0 10
U/w3

0.8

0.6
0
4
z
b
0.4

~ EXACT

0.2

1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

r/a
Fig. 3. (a) Pressure vs inner wall displacement, U/at,, for a cylinder with b/a = 2.0 subject to prescribed
displacement rate ri/a& = 1.0. The time step is fixed at At = 0.2t, and curves corresponding to 8 = 0.25,
0.5 and 1.0 are shown for m = 0.001, i, = 0.002, E/u, = 500 and Y = 0.499; (b) Circumferential stress, 04#,
vs r/a for f3 = 0.5.

Numerical solutions using a uniform time step is determined from the virtual work equation evalu-
At/t, = 0.7 are shown in Fig. 2 where the computed ated at the end of each time increment. The numerical
normalized pressure is plotted against the total nor- results corresponding to f3 = 0 oscillate indefinitely,
malized displacement at the inner wall. The pressure while the results for 0 = 0.25 oscillate slightly at the
 A tangent modulus method for rate dependent solids
knee. The results for 0 = 0.5 and 1.0 exhibit no
oscillatory behavior and agree with the exact solution
to at least two significant digits in the steady state
regime. The exact solution is indicated in the figure.
In the next series of calculations, rn is chosen to be
0.001; all the other parameters and boundary condi-
tions are as before. This value of m corresponds to an
almost rate insensitive material; the rate independent
limit is m = 0. Numerical solutions were obtained for
the full range of 0. Numerical experiments showed
that to obtain a stable, accurate solution using f3 = 0,
the time step At/f, could not exceed 0.005. This is two
orders of magnitude smaller than the corresponding
time step limit in the previous example.
For 0 = 0.25, the computed pressure and stresses
are accurate for time step sizes up to At/to = 0.1; for
larger time steps these quantities oscillate. The results
associated with 0 between 0.5 and 1.0 remain accu-
rate for time step sizes up to At/t, = 0.2. The results
obtained using uniform time steps At/t,, = 0.2 (a
factor of 40 larger than the allowable At/r,, associated
with Q = 0.0) are presented in Fig. 3. The computed
pressures associated with 0 = 0.25,0.5 and 1.Oexceed
the exact value by about 5% at the knee but
approach the exact steady-state value after about fifty
time steps. The stresses associated with 0 = 0.5 and
1.0 are in good agreement with the exact steady-state
values; however the stresses associated with 0 = 0.25
are oscillatory. The circumferential stress distribution
at several time steps (for 8 = 0.5) is shown in Fig.
3(b); the exact steady-state distribution is also indi-
cated. Here, and subsequently, the stresses shown are
obtained by averaging the stresses associated with the
four triangular elements comprising the quadril-
ateral.
In the next example, a nonuniform step size is
employed. For the first step, At/t,, = 1.0. Next, in the
vicinity of the knee of the pressure-displacement
curve, smaller step sizes At/to = 0.1 are employed.
Beyond the knee, At/t, = 5 and greater. In this case,
the agreement with the exact solution is excellent. The
results corresponding to 0 = 0.5 are plotted in Fig. 4.
The computed steady state pressure and stresses
agree with the exact solution to at least two
significant digits. The exact steady state stress distri-
bution is approached in a monotonic fashion as
shown in Fig. 4(b).
Several of the above computations were repeated
for v = 0.3 with all the other material constants
unchanged; the observations noted above concerning
accuracy and stability are also applicable for the cases
in which v = 0.3. Some analyses were repeated using
the plane strain model shown in Fig. l(a). In all cases
the numerical results and the stability characteristics
of the algorithm were as discussed above.
These numerical results demonstrate that for 0
between 0.5 and 1.0, accurate solutions can be ob-
tained using step sizes an order of magnitude larger
than the maximum step size (compatible with a stable
and accurate solution) associated with 0 = 0. An-
other observation should also be noted. The most
stringent requirements on the step size occur in the
vicinity of the knee of the pressure-deflection
curve. Step sizes corresponding to strain increments
of l/3 to l/l0 of E,,(in these examples, e,, = 0.002) are
required around the knee; beyond the knee step 1.5t, and 2.Ot, were also obtained. For the m = 0.1
sizes which are much larger than t,, can be employed
879
to obtain a stable and accurate solution. The mag-
nitude of the step size depends on the material rate
sensitivity; larger step sizes are permitted with in-
creasing rate sensitivity. We also found that for very
large step sizes the solution may start to oscillate after
several large steps. These oscillations can be pre-
vented by taking several smaller steps which serve to
re-establish the equilibrium of the body. Thus in the
steady-state regime, large time steps can be employed
as long as smaller steps are taken at regular intervals.
This behavior was also observed for the Euler scheme
(Bassani and McClintock[8]).
4.2 Thick-walled cylinder subjected to a ramp pressure
The plane strain model shown in Fig. l(a) was
subjected to a ramp pressure as depicted in the insert
in Fig. 5(a). The material properties are E/o0 = 500,
v = 0.499, i,, = 0.002 and m = 0.2.
The ramp pressure is applied with a rise time of
0. It,, and subsequently held constant at P/o, = 1.0,
as shown in the insert to Fig. 5(a). The response of
the body is treated as elastic during the ramp load.
For 0 = 0, solutions are obtained using time steps
At/t, = 0.02,0.05,0.07 and 0.09. For At/to = 0.09, the
computed solution oscillates slightly and with a
slightly larger time step the solution becomes unsta-
ble. The computed rate of expansion of the inner wall
associated with the above step sizes and with the
exact solution are shown in Fig. 5(a). The results
demonstrate the rapid onset of instability when the
critical step size is exceeded. This behavior is a
characteristic of the Euler scheme.
The computed expansion rates of the inner wall for
the same ramp load using 0 = 0.5 are shown in Fig.
5(b). The computed expansion rates associated with
At/t, = 0.02 are in excellent agreement with the exact
solution in the transient regime; beyond the transient
regime, larger time steps are employed. This curve
and the curves associated with At/t,, = 0.10 and 0.20
approach the exact steady-state value in a monotonic
manner. For larger step sizes, At/t,, > 0.5, the solu-
tions oscillate slightly but also approach the steady-
state solution in several steps.
4.3 Analysis of a hardening viscopIastic thick-walled
cylinder
The viscoplastic strain rate is given by (3.10)
coupled with the hardening relation
g(C) = u&/c, + llN (4.1)
where go and t,, are a reference stress and strain,
respectively, related by o, = EC,, and N is the strain
hardening exponent. For this analysis, we have taken
E/o, = 500, v = 0.3, i, = 0.002 and N = 0.1. The
plane strain model was employed. For the vis-
coplastic constitutive relations with hardening, a
series of computations were carried out for m = 1.0,
O..Ol and 0.001. A constant displacement rate
U/a& = 1.0 was prescribed at the inner wall. Solu-
tions were obtained using At/t, between 0.1 and 0.5
around the knee, and At/to = 5 beyond the knee.
These solutions agreed with the reference solutions
(obtained with At/t, = 0.02) to within two significant
digits. Solutions using uniform time steps of l.Ot,,
material, the solutions for At/to = 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0
880 D. brRCE et al.

4 6 8 10
U/9

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
r 7i ___ EXACT

Fig. 4. (a) Pressure ys inner wall displacement, U/UC,, for a cylinder with b/a = 2.0 subject to a prescribed
displacement rate U/al, = 1.O. In the first time step At = to. At the knee small time steps, At = 0.1 t,,,
are used. Beyond the knee At is increased to 5t,; 0 = 0.5, m = 0.001, 4 = 0.002, E/a, = 500 and
v = 0.499; (b) Circumferential stress, 06@, vs r/a for 0 = 0.5.
 A tangent modulus method for rate dependent solids 881

25

25

20
___ EXACT

0 0.5 1 1.5 2

t/t,

Fig. 5. Inner wall expansion rate for a cylinder with b/a = 2.0 subject to a ramp pressure held constant
at p/u0 = 1.0; the materials constants are m = 0.2,i,= 0.002,E/a, = 500 and v = 0.499; (a) curves for
0 = 0.0 with time steps At/t, of 0.02, 0.05,0.07,0.09 and 0.091 (unstable) in the transient regime; (b) curves
for fI = 0.5 with time steps At/t, of 0.02,0.10, 0.20,0.50 in the transient regime.
882 D. PEIRCE et al.

overshoot the reference solution but eventually de-
scend to the correct curve. Uniform step size solu-
tions with 0 = 0.75 and with At/t, = 1.5 and 2.0 are
shown in Fig. 6(a) where m = 0.1. Uniform step size
solutions with m = 0.001 and At/t, = 1.0 and 2.0 are
shown in Fig. 6(b). Variable step size solutions are
also shown in each figure. Because of the nearly
inviscid behavior of the material with m = 0.001, the
solution for time steps of l.Ot, or larger does not
approach the solution obtained by time step

1.4

VARIABLE At/t,

0.6

___ REFERENCE
SOLUTION

5 10 15 20
U/see

VARIABLE At/to

0.6

0.4

REFERENCE
SOLUTION
0.2

0.0
0 5 10 15 20
U/as0
Fig. 6. (a) Pressure vs inner wall displacement, U/at,, for a cylinder with b/a = 2.0 subject to a prescribed
displacement rate o/al, = 1.O; the material constants are N = 0. I, i0 = 0.002, E/a, = 500 and v = 0.3; (a)
WI = 0.1, 0 = 0.75 with At/r, = I.5 and 2.0; (b) m = 0.001, 0 = 0.75 with At/t,, = 1.0 and 2.0. Also shown
is a variable time step solution using small increments at the knee.
 A tangent modulus method for rate dependent solids 883

refinement at the knee or the reference solution. The
behavior of the solution with m = 0.01 falls betwen
the two cases shown in Fig. 6.
The numerical examples illustrate that with the rate
dependent tangent modulus method, errors or over-
shoot due to large time steps tend to be damped out
and there is a tendency toward the correct equi-
librium state. However, for nearly rate insensitive
solids, errors due to large time steps and overshooting
are not damped out so readily. The results in Fig. 6(b)
also show that stable or nonoscillatory solutions are
not necessarily accurate. Thus for nearly rate inde-
pendent materials an accurate solution requires small
enough step sizes, particularly near the knee of the
load-deflection curve. This is also a characteristic of
the rate independent tangent modulus method.
4.4 Cyclic loading of a cylindrical bar
A cylindrical bar of length l,, is subjected to pre-
scribed cyclic displacements as shown in the insert in
Fig. 7. The prescribed displacements, U/&to, vary
linearly with time between f4.0 and -4.0; the
material properties are chosen to be E/q, = 500,
v = 0.3, m = 0.1, i0 = 0.002 and N = 0.2. The anal-
yses are carried out using 8 = 1 and for normalized
loading rates ri/t,i, = 1.0 and 10.0.
Time steps which correspond to strain increments
from about 0.5~~ to 36, are employed; at the knee
and at displacement reversals smaller time steps
corresponding to strain increments of about 0.16, to
0.36, are employed. The computed stress-strain be-
havior is shown in Fig. 7. The computed behavior
differs negligibly from results obtained with time
steps an order of magnitude smaller. Numerical
experiments showed that accurate results require
small time steps at load reversals and near the yield
points. Indeed, since no iterations are employed, the
use of unsuitably large time steps at a knee, so that
the effective yield point is exceeded, can manifest
itself at a subsequent reversal. The consequences are
an innaccurate solution and, possibly, numerical in-
stability even with 6 2 0.5. However, the present
results show that the explicit rate tangent modulus
method can be employed for cyclic loading when time
step sizes are appropriately chosen.
5. GENERALIZATIONS
Here, the development given in Section 3 for the
small strain von Mises solid will be generalized to
finite deformations and to more complex models of
material behavior. In the finite deformation context,
the rate of deformation tensor, d, (d is the symmetric
part of ax/ax where x gives the current position of
the material point at position X in the reference
configuration) is written as the sum of an elastic part
and a viscoplastic part
d = d + dP. (5.1)
The elastic part of the rate of deformation is
written as
dsL-1:; (5.2)

Fig. 7. Cyclic stress-strain curves for a cylindrical bar subject to cyclic displacement rates, ri/l&,,, of 1.O
and 10.0. The material constants are i, = 0.002, N = 0.2, E/u, = 500 and v = 0.3. The curves are obtained
using I!?= 1.0. A basic time step of 2f, is used with ~/I&, = 1.0 and of 0.2t, with ri//,i, = 10. The basic
time step (corresponding to strain increments of 26,) is subdivided into smaller increments at the knee
and at load reversals.
884 D. hRCE et al.

where $ is the Jaumann derivative of Kirchhoff stress. This relation is solved to obtain an expression for AE.
For the von Mises solid we adopt a formulation Then dividing by At yields
based on Kirchhoff stress, 7, rather than Cauchy
stress, u (a = r/det{ax/8Xj), since the rate indepen- f=&+;&Q:d. (5.12)
dent limit of the von Mises solid (J2 flow theory)
based on Kirchhoff stress gives rise to a symmetric
tangent stiffness matrix. The corresponding formu-
Here.
lation based on Cauchy stress does not. These two
formulations are physically equivalent as long as the
magnitude of the mean normal stress is small com- Q=$+,:L
pared to the elastic bulk modulus. I ,
We will take dP to be given by a somewhat
generalized form of the relation employed in the R= -~-$(*:p_x:p) (5.13)
small strain context; namely I I
t
dP= f(r, pJp (5.3)
5 = (BAt)E;i J
where p gives the plastic straining direction, c is the Finally, substituting (5.12) into (5.5) leads to the
equivalent viscoplastic strain tangent modulus expression

c= dt (5.4) ,+,-(&);PQ]:d-&P. (5.14)

and the /3, are a finite number of scalar variables.

The tangent modulus expression in (5.14) is sym-
Combining (5.1), (5.2) and (5.3) and solving for 7 metric if and only if P cc Q. Note that the symmetry
gives of the rate dependent tangent modulus is independent
of the value of 5.
A concrete example of the constitutive relation
;=L:d-:P (5.5) discussed above is a solid with flow potential surfaces
given by concentric ellipses centered about a devi-
where atoric stress a (corresponding to combined isotropic
and kinematic hardening in the rate independent
P = L:p. (5.6) limit). For such a solid

The evolution of the parameters fii is taken to be 32-a

governed by equations of the form P=jT

8, = A,:dP + x,:5. (5.7) ,/E,_(, I)1 . (5.15)

3
In (5.7) A, and 1, can depend on the current values 3 I
I?* = i (T - a):(z - a)
of r, E and the pi.
Now we outline a procedure paralleling the one J
described in Section 3. First, we write
The evolution equation for a is taken to be a finite
At = At[(l -Q);,+ &,+&,]. (5.8) strain form of the Prager-Ziegler relation, namely

Then, we use the Taylor expansion ;=bdP. (5.16)

We adopt (5.16) for illustrative purposes and note in

passing that the appropriateness of this evolution
Using (5.9) and (5.7) in (5.8) gives equation at finite strains has been questioned re-
cently. The difficulty with (5.16) stems from the fact
afl . that, in the rate independent limit, it has been shown
At? = At:, + @(At) z_c +C~(A,:d~+&) to lead to an oscillating shear stress-shear strain
i wi 1 relation in simple shear for a purely kinematic hard-
(5.10) ening solid[9].
For this combined isotropic-kinematic hardening
Substituting (5.3) and (5.5) into (5.10) gives relation we take

A<=At;[+(OAt) ;_Ai+&,:L:dAt ;_= ;_(t;6) (5.17)

[ i aa,

1
so that there is one pi which is identified with c and
+ 2 $ (A,:p - xi:P)AE (5.11)
i , d = p:(7- 4) = - bp:d + p:t. (5.18)
 A tangent modulus method for rate dependent solids 885

Thus, from (5.13) matrix even when plastic normality holds in Cauchy
stress space.
&p The constitutive relation is specified by
au

A= -;+hg (p:p)+; (p:L:p). (5.19) (5.25)

_
P=L:p, p=f$
The expression for the tangent modulus takes the
simple form
so that &$/au gives the viscoplastic strain rate direc-
tion. The factor I? is determined by the equivalence
(5.20)
of macroscopic plastic work rate and microscopic
plastic dissipation,
where u :dP)= (1 -f)& (5.26)
h = A/(afjaq
Here, C is the matrix equivalent viscoplastic strain.
The matrix is taken to be characterized by a finite
=b(p:p) _

(a;)(5;)-
ac au
+ p:L:p (5.21) strain von Mises type viscoplastic constitutive re-
lation. In Gursons [ 10, 1l] development the matrix is

0z
a rate independent von Mises solid. For the vis-
<=eAt h. (5.22) coplastic matrix,
au
f = f(t; a). (5.27)
The tangent modulus (5.20) is symmetric and this
leads to a symmetric finite element stiffness matrix for
a standard boundary value problem. Using (5.25) and (5.26) yields
A somewhat more complex material model is pro- B = (1 -f)&
vided by a dilatant and pressure sensitive viscoplastic (5.28)
solid. An approximate constitutive relation for void- (a:p)
containing ductile solids has been introduced by
Gurson[lO, II]. Recently, Pan et al.[12] have gener- The increase in void volume fraction,f, arises from
alized Gursons[lO, 111 model to allow for vis- the growth of existing voids and from the nucleation
coplastic matrix behavior. The development of the of new voids. Thus,
rate dependent tangent modulus for this constitutive
relation will be given here to illustrate the adapt- f = (f)growth+ (f)&.%flO. (5.29)
ability of the rate dependent tangent modulus formu-
lation to rather complex material models. The growth rate is related to the macroscopic dilation
Based on an approximate analysis, Gurson[lO, 1l] rate by
suggested the yield condition
(f&h = (1 -f)I:aP. (5.30)

u2 In applications of the Gurson model, void nucleation

$(a, t,f) = 2 + 2fq, cash - 1 - q3f* = 0
has been idealized either as strain controlled with
(5.23)
(.fLkatlon = af (5.31)
where
or stress controlled with
3
0e?= -_b:g
2

CH= I:a (5.24)

I where a, A and B are taken to depend on the current
1 stress state and current value of the matrix equivalent
u=cT --a,1
3 1 plastic strain. Here, to illustrate general formulae we
presume that nucleation is occurring at the current
and @andfare the matrix flow strength and the void time and write
volume fraction, respectively. The parameters q,, q2
and q3 were introduced by Tvergaard[13]; Gur- 1
sons[lO, 1l] original proposal corresponds to (f)cIeat,on
=at+AG +?Bc+,,. (5.33)
q, = q2 = q3 * 1. When the matrix material is vis-
coplastic, 4 in (5.23) serves as the flow potential From (5.29) to (5.33)
function.
Gursons[lO, 1l] constitutive relation is appropri-
f= (1 -f)(I:a) + af + Ad + f B(I:i). (5.34)
ately phrased in terms of Cauchy stress rather than
Kirchhoff stress, which in the rate independent con-
text leads to an unsymmetric finite element stiffness The rate of change of the matrix equivalent stress 0
CAS Vol. 18, No. %I
886 D. PEIRCE ef al.

is determined from the consistency condition that 6. CONCLUDING REMARKS

d, = 0 throughout the deformation history. Thus, A one parameter family of single step forward
gradient methods has been described. For values of
a4 WJ
Q=o=_:g+_;+---f ad, (5.35)
the parameter, termed 8, between 0.5 and 1.0, numer-
au a5 af ical examples have shown that the method is stable
and that it gives accurate results for step sizes much
yields larger than can be employed with the Euler (0 = 0)
method. For the simple von Mises solid, the rate
tangent modulus formulation leads to a symmetric
;=.- (5.36) stiffness matrix, which is not necessarily the case for
all variants of the forward gradient method, e.g.
Willam[2]. Also, the expression for the stiffnesses is
Proceeding as in the previous examples, we write obtained explicitly; matrix inversion, as in Willam[2]
and Zirin and Krempl[3], is not required. In a certain
AE = At[(l - f$,+ ef,+J (5.37) sense, the tangent modulus method reflects the struc-
ture of the underlying constitutive relation. For ex-
with ample, as remarked in connection with (5.14), the

i,,,,=t,+[;c+ +$;lar. (5.38)

symmetry or lack thereof of the tangent stiffness
matrix does not depend on the parameters character-
ising the material rate sensitivity or those of the
numerical procedure.
Combining (5.28), (5.34) and (5.36) yields As illustrated in Section 5, the method is readily
adapted to rather complex constitutive relations. An
additional application, not discussed here, is to the
analysis of nonuniform deformation in rate de-
pendent single crystals[l4, 151. In this regard, it
a4 . (5.39) should be mentioned that the numerical examples
+ (1 -f) 7 (I:p)E
presented here have been restricted to radial or nearly
radial loading paths (in the case of Section 4.4,
oscillating back and forth along a fixed path). In a
general analysis, the direction of plastic straining
q=p+u%. changes in each increment and this can impose an
3 af additional restriction on the time step for a tangent
modulus type method. The behavior of the method in
Using
[14, 151, where strongly non-radial loading occurs, is
broadly consistent with that illustrated in the numer-
q:: = q:L:d - E(q:L:p) (5.41)
ical examples presented here. In the crystal
analyses[l4, 151, the time step used for the rate
in conjunction with (5.28), (5.37)-(5.40) give after dependent case was generally greater than could be
some algebraic rearrangement employed for the rate independent tangent modulus
method.
---
1 (5.42) Acknowledgements-The
DAAG29-81-K-0121
support of AR0
is gratefully acknowledged.
Grant
The com-
putations reported on here were carried out on the Brown
with
University, Division of Engineering, VAX-l l/780 com-
puter. The acquisition of this computer was made possible
Q = q:L (5.43) by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation
(Grant ENG78-19378) the General Electric Foundation
and the Digital Equipment Corporation.

REFERENCES
I. C. F. Shih, H. G. deLorenzi and A. K. Miller, A stable
computational scheme for stiff time-dependent consti-
tutive equations. SMIRT-4 Proc. Paper L 212. San
Francisco (1977).
(5.44) 2. K. J. Willam, Numerical solution of inelastic rate
processes. Comput. Structures 8, 511-531 (1978).
3. R. M. Zirin and E. Krempl, A finite element time
integration method for the theory of viscoplasticity
based on infinitesimal total strain. ASME, Paper
80-C2/PVP-33 (1980).
4. M. M. Little, E. Krempl and C. F. Shih, On the Time
and Loading Rate Dependence of Crack-Tip Fields at
Substituting into (5.25) gives the rate dependent Room Temperature-A Viscoplastic Analysis of Tensile
tangent modulus expression Small Scale Yielding, to be published.
5. 0. C. Zienkiewicz and I. C. Cormeau, Visco-

1Id-m
. & p (5.46)
plasticity-plasticity and creep in elastic solids-a unified
numerical solution approach. Int. J. Numer. Meth.
Engng 8, 821-845 (1974).
6. J. C. Nagtegaal, D. M. Parks and J. R. Rice, On
 A tangent modulus method for rate dependent solids 887

numerically accurate finite element solutions in the fully The non-vanishing components of the infinitesimal rate of
plastic range. Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng 4, strain tensor are
153-177 (1974).
7. A. Needleman and C. F. Shih, A finite element method
for plane strain deformations of incompressible solids.
k(t)
t,, = - __ $6 =
k(t)
~
r* r2
Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng 15, 223-240 (1978).
8. J. L. Bassani and F. A. McClintock, Creep relaxation
of stress around a crack tip. Int. J. Solids Structures 17, The function k(t) is determined from the boundary condi-
479492 (1981). tions at the inner and outer radii of the cylinder and from
9. J. C. Nagtegaal and J. E. de Jong. Some aspects of the constitutive relation. For a nonlinear viscous solid
nonisotropic workhardening in finite strain plasticity. described by (3.10) with g(Z) = co and with a constant
Proc. Workshop on Plasticity of Metab at Finite Strain expansion rate, ri, prescribed at the inner radius r = a, the
(Edited by E. H. Lee and R. L. Mallett), pp. 65-102 steady state stresses are given by
(1983).
10. A. L. Gurson, Plastic flow and fracture behavior of
ductile materials incorporating void nucleation, growth G=[$]($$&$ -(;)ti] (A3)
and interaction. Ph.D. Thesis, Brown University (1975).
11. A. L. Gurson, Continuum theory of ductile rupture by
void nucleation and growth-I. Yield criteria and flow
rules for porous ductile materials. J. Engng Mat. Tech. ed.=[$][$$~;;;t!)[l+(2m-1)(~)11]
99, 2-15 (1977).
12. J. Pan, M. Saje and A. Needleman, Localization of
(A4)
deformation in rate sensitive porous plastic solids. Znt.
J. Fracture, 21, 261-278 (1983).
1
13. V. Tvergaard, Influence of voids on shear band in- o,, = 2 (c,, + @). (A5)
stabilities under plane strain conditions. Znt. J. Fracture
17, 389407 (1981).
14. D. Peirce, Analysis of nonuniform deformation in duc- Here, m is the strain rate hardening exponent in (3.10) and
tile single crystals. Ph.D. Thesis, Brown University b is the outer radius of the cylinder.
(1982). For a prescribed pressure p at the inner radius, r = a, the
15. D. Peirce, R. J. Asaro and A. Needleman, Acta Metall., steady-state stresses are given by
in press.
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elasto/visco-plasticity. Int. J. Num. Meth. Engng 9, [I - (b/rPl
(46)
109-127 (1975). Or
= -[l - (b/a)t]

APPENDIX
An exact solution for the axisymmetric expansion of a u~+__p[1+(2m-1)(b)ll (A7)
cylinder made of an incompressible solid is readily obtained, [I -(b/a)?
since the form of the velocity field is determined by the
incompressibility condition. With r, q+ and r forming a
and urr is given in terms of ur, and Ups by (A5).
cylindrical coordinate system, the only nonvanishing veloc-
The transient response of an elastic-nonlinear viscous
ity is
solid is obtained by employing (A2) in the constitutive
k(t) relation and then carrying out a straightforward time inte-
ti,=---. (AI)
r gration for the given boundary conditions.