Features of the stress path at the post adaptation stage and related shakedown conditions

new necessary condition for adaptation of elastic plastic bodies with internal variables to cyclic loading is deduced from the features of the deformation path at the post adaptation stage : shakedown is possible for taken values of internal variables, if there exists a solution of a mm-max problem. In some cases (perfectly plastic bodies, and isotropically strain hardening) the condition is also sufficient. In the last case the condition provides a method to determining the minimum value of hardening parameter which can be acquired under the given loading program. An exampie of application of the method is given. 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.