Finite Strain Elastostatics With Stiffening Materials: A Constrained Minimization Model

Abstract

Finite strain elastostatics is expressed for general anisotropic, piecewise linear stiffening materials, in the form of a constrained minimization problem. The corresponding boundary value problem statement is identified with the associated necessary conditions . Total strain is represented as a superposition of variationally independent constituent fields. Net stress-strain properties in the model are implicit in terms of the parameters that define the constituents. The model accommodates specification of load fields as functions of a process parameter .