Initial strain formulation without internal cells for elastoplastic analysis by triple-reciprocity BEM

In general, internal cells are required to solve elastoplasticity problems using a conventional boundary element method (BEM). However, in this case, the merit of BEM, which is the easy method of preparation of data, is lost. The conventional multiple-reciprocity boundary element method (MRBEM) cannot be used to solve the elastoplasticity problems because the distribution of initial strain or initial stress cannot be determined analytically. In this paper, we show that two-dimensional elastoplasticity problems can be solved without the use of internal cells, by using the triple-reciprocity boundary element method. An initial strain formulation is adopted and the initial strain distribution is interpolated using boundary integral equations. A new computer programme was developed and applied to several problems. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.