Bifurcations and shear bands by the boundary element method

Incremental elastic deformations superimposed upon a given homogeneous strain are analysed with a boundary element technique. This is based on a recently-developed Green's function for nonlinear incremental elastic deformations. Since the formulation fully embodies large strain effects, it allows for the determination of bifurcation loads and associated deformation modes. In particular, bifurcations of elastic structures are investigated, including cracked bodies and multilayers. As special cases of instability not involving length scales, surface bifurcations and shear bands are analysed.