Boundary elements and shear bands in incremental elasticity

Perturbations in terms of small elastic deformations superimposed upon a given homogeneous strain are analysed within a boundary element framework. This is based on a recently-developed Green's function and boundary integral equations for non-linear incremental elastic deformations. Plane strain deformations are considered of an incompressible hyperelastic solid within the elliptic range. The proposed approach is shown to yield bifurcation loads and modes via a perturbative approach. Numerical treatment of the problem is detailed and applications to multilayers are shown. Relations between shear band formation and global instabilities are given evidence.