Three-dimensional kinematic plastic limit analysis with plastic incompressibility and conic programming

We are happy to announce that Prof. Dr. Pham Duc Chinh and colleagues recently published their work entitled “Three-dimensional kinematic plastic limit analysis with plastic incompressibility and conic programming” in the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics (Elsevier).

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel extension of the kinematic limit analysis framework by incorporating hydrostatic stress effects into the plastic dissipation function, enabling the modeling of pressure-sensitive failure mechanisms. The associated dissipation function is reformulated to relax the plastic incompressibility constraint, resulting in a generalized optimization problem amenable to second-order cone programming (SOCP). To address volumetric locking in low-order elements, the node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) is employed, enhancing numerical accuracy and convergence. The proposed formulation is validated through several benchmark problems, including structures with stress concentrations and pressure-dominant states. Results demonstrate the method’s ability to capture both global and localized collapse mechanisms, offering a robust and efficient alternative to classical approaches in the analysis of pressure-sensitive materials and porous structures