Numerical modelling of shear bands by element bands

It is presently a concern and challenge to numerically model shear band localization. Many numerical methods have been developed to take into account the strain and displacement discontinuities across a shear band. In this paper, a contact band element method is proposed to model the shear band with a nite thickness under large shear deformation. The shear band elements, alternatively called contact band elements, are continuously updated based on their current con gurations to prevent the large distortions of conventional nite elements and maintain realistic shear band con gurations. The contact band element method, with a technique for the special shear band element, consists of the schemes to keep the shear band elements in good shapes, handle the band overlapping, kinking and separation problems. A few examples have shown that the contact band element method is a very e cient way to model the shear bands under large shear deformation