Improved solution methods for inelastic rate problems

The objective of the paper is an assessment of the incremental solution methods for the analysis of inelastic rate problems. In particular, the possibilities of the initial load method are explored to improve the accuracy and stability of the traditional explicit operators by higher-order time expansions and implicit weighting schemes.The convergence limitations are examined for different classes of inelastic growth laws (viscous flow, viscoelasticity, viscoplasticity) which restrict the time step because of the iterative solution of the implicit algorithm. The range and rate of convergence of the initial load method (constant stiffness predictor-corrector iteration) is enlarged by tangential gradient techniques which account for the inelastic response in the structural stiffness matrix. In this way the time step restriction disappears although at a considerable increase of computational expense because of the costly computation and decomposition of structural gradients within each iteration cycle (Newton-Raphson methods).As compared to the linear single-step methods, the cubic Hermitian time expansions furnish far better accuracy than the traditional linear expansions for very little increase of computational cost. Stability and convergence limits correspond to those of the lower-order operators, whereby the implicit midstep of backward weighting schemes are most advantageous. In this context it is worth noting that aging or strain-hardening effects in the inelastic growth law reduce dramatically the time step restrictions of the iterative initial load solution methods (predictor-corrector schemes), as compared to the simplest creep model in which the inelastic growth law depends only on stress, e.g. for viscous flow and viscoplasticity.