Elasto‐plastic stress analysis. A generalization for various contitutive relations including strain softening

Abstract Several iterative processes for solving elasto‐plastic problems are discussed in the context of a general formulation which includes: Associated and non‐associated plasticity relations. Strain hardening as well as strain softening behaviour. Advantages of the ‘initial stress’ process are emphasized for a wide category of problems and the isoparametric formulation is used throughout.