Shear band patterns arising from rigid line inclusion distributions via boundary element technique

Similarly to cracks, stress concentrations may arise at the tips of rigid line inclusions. These stress concentrations are analytically predicted and experimentally proven to be square root singularities when the matrix material is linear elastic. Moreover, in the case when the matrix is uniformely prestressed close to the condition of loss ellipticity, the shear band pattern at failure is strongly affected by the presence of a rigid line inclusion. Based on the Green’s function for incremental nonlinear elasticity, boundary integral equations are formulated in the presence of a generic distribution of N rigid line inclusions. The numerical solution is obtained through boundary element technique with varying the inclusion distribution geometry. The distribution influence on the shear band pattern is discussed