Combined hardening and softening constitutive model of plasticity: precursor to shear slip line failure

In this work, we present a finite element model capable of describing both the plastic deformation which accumulates during the hardening phase as the precursor to failure and the failure process leading to softening phenomena induced by shear slip lines. This is achieved by activating subsequently hardening and softening mechanisms with the localization condition which separates them. The chosen model problem of von Mises plasticity is addressed in detail, along with particular combination of mixed and enhanced finite element approximations which are selected to control the locking phenomena and guarantee mesh-invariant computation of plastic dissipation. Several numerical simulations are presented in order to illustrate the ability of the presented model to predict the final orientation of the shear slip lines for the case of non-proportional loading.