Interaction of deformation waves and localization phenomena in inelastic solids Original Research Article

The main objective of this paper is the investigation of the interaction and reflection of elastic–viscoplastic waves which can lead to localization phenomena in solids. The rate type constitutive structure for an elastic–viscoplastic material with thermomechanical coupling is developed. An adiabatic inelastic flow process is considered. The Cauchy problem is investigated and the conditions for well-posedness are examined. Discussion of fundamental features of rate-dependent plastic medium is presented. This medium has dissipative and dispersive properties. Mathematical analysis of the evolution problem (the dynamical initial-boundary value problem) is presented. The dispersion property implies that in the viscoplastic medium any initial disturbance can break up into a system of group of oscillations or wavelets. On the other hand, the dissipation property causes the amplitude of a harmonic wavetrain to decay with time. In the evolution problem considered in such dissipative and dispersive medium, the stress and deformation due to wave reflections and interactions are not uniformly distributed, and this kind of heterogeneity can lead to strain localization in the absence of geometrical or material imperfections.