Lower bound shakedown analysis by the symmetric Galerkin boundary element method

In this paper, the static shakedown theorem is reformulated making use of the symmetric Galerkin boundary element method (SGBEM) rather than of finite element method. Based on the classical Melan’s theorem, a numerical solution procedure is presented for shakedown analysis of structures made of elastic-perfectly plastic material. The self-equilibrium stress field is constructed by linear combination of several basis self-equilibrium stress fields with parameters to be determined. These basis self-equilibrium stress fields are expressed as elastic responses of the body to imposed permanent strains obtained through elastic–plastic incremental analysis. The lower bound of shakedown load is obtained via a non-linear mathematical programming problem solved by the Complex method. Numerical examples show that it is feasible and efficient to solve the problems of shakedown analysis by using the SGBEM.