Lower Bound Methods in Elastic Plastic Shakedown Analysis

Abstract

Several methods were proposed in recent years that allow the efficient calculation of elastic and elasticplastic shakedown limits. This paper establishes a uniform framework for such methods that are based on perfectlyplastic material behavior, and demonstrates the connection to Melan's theorem of elastic shakedown. The paper discusses implications for simplified methods of establishing shakedown, such as those used in the ASME Code. The framework allows a clearer assessment of the limitations of such simplified approaches. Application examples are given.