Symmetric-Iterative Solution of Coupled BE and FE Discretizations for Elastoplastics Original Research Article

In this paper the symmetric-iterative method of coupled FE and BE discretizations is adopted to investigate elastoplastic problems. In order to improve computational efficiency, all degrees of freedom related to the BE region, except those degrees of freedom associated with interface, are condenced. The symmetric part of the stiffness matrix from the boundary element region is assembled into the stiffness matrix of the FEM, but antisymmetric part is taken as the corresponding influential load matrix. During the elastoplastic solution process of the FEM, the numerical iterations which includes the influence of the antisymmetry of the condensed stiffness matrix are being carried out until the convergent results are obtained. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the performance of the given algorithm and compared with the existing results.