Symmetry‐preserving return mapping algorithms and incrementally extremal paths: A unification of concepts

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Abstract
In this work we seek to characterize the conditions under which an elastic–plastic stress update algorithm preserves the symmetries inherent to the material response. From a numerical standpoint, the aim is to determine under what conditions a stress update algorithm produces symmetric consistent tangents when applied to materials obeying normality. For the ideally plastic solid we show that only the fully implicit or closest point return mapping algorithm is symmetry preserving. For hardening plasticity, symmetry cannot be preserved in general unless suitable restrictions are imposed on the constitutive equations. We show that these restrictions amount to the existence of a pseudo‐internal energy function acting as a joint potential for both the direction of plastic flow and the hardening moduli. In view of the fact that holonomic methods based on incrementally extremal paths also result in update rules possessing a potential structure and, hence, in symmetric tangents, we address the question of whether any connections exist between the two approaches. We show that holonomic methods and the fully implicit algorithm may indeed be brought into correspondence.