The Theory of Plasticity—An Outline of Work Done in Russia

Abstract

Abstract The theory of plasticity as an important part of the mechanics of continuous materials has occupied the attention of many Russian workers in recent years. In the first paper in this field published in 1935, by S. Sobolev (17) the propagation in time of a plastic zone was investigated around a circular hole in an infinite plate. The plastic zone was assumed to have a polar symmetric shape. Based on the works of L. Prandtl, Th. von Kármán, R. von Mises, H. Hencky, A. Nadai, and others, more recently, a group of young Russian engineers have investigated further the theory of plasticity and added many new developments to it. While the investigations abroad and in Europe, outside of Russia, were being aimed at establishing the validity of the theory of plasticity, most of the papers appearing in the literature in Russia were devoted to the solutions of concrete problems. This review does not attempt to discuss broadly the work done in the theory of plasticity. The author confines himself to certain parts of the theory which have been developed in Russia. Naturally those closest to his own scientific interests have been selected for treatment.