Folding of a plastic fibre under combined shear and compression

Large deflection of an elastic–plastic, nonlinear strain-hardening clamped-sliding beam subjected to a combined compression and shear load is solved analytically. The solution requires only numerical evaluation of integrals. Analytical expressions for applied force, deflection, bending moment, and strain energy are obtained. Numerical examples are given for a single stainless steel fibre of the hybrid stainless steel assembly (HSSA). The contact condition of the beam with end platens is determined. It is shown that the normalized effective crush distance ranges from 0.85 to 1.00, and depends only on loading angles and material hardening exponents. The crushing load has a maximum for the case with a small material hardening exponent and a small loading angle. It is found that no plastic unloading will occur before the beam contacts with the end platens. Finite element simulations are performed to verify the accuracy of the analytical solution, and a rather good agreement is obtained.