Abstract
Nonlinear problems of two-dimensional deformation or stress in solid continua are considered where the in-plane components of stress are self-equilibrated and subject to a scalar constraint. In applications the latter is often a yield condition for plastic media. Such field equations are frequently hyperbolic, with a pair of characteristic curves through any point. The primary aim is to express the integrable differential relations along the curves in their simplest form, by an optimal choice of coordinates and variables. Special cases of this problem are now classical, but the general case has received little attention and the universal canonic structure of the relations has escaped notice.

This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit: