Revisiting intrinsic curve type strength criteria for yield design analyses

Intrinsic curve type strength criteria for isotropic materials rely on the assumption that failure of a material element only depends on the values of the major and minor principal stresses exerted on it. The intrinsic curve is classically defined as the envelope of limit Mohr circles corresponding to yielding. It can also be considered as the envelope of a family of Coulomb’s criteria depending on one scalar parameter. This alternative definition is exploited for providing the expressions for the maximum resisting work in the general case of a material with an intrinsic curve type yield criterion, with or without tension cutoff, both for strain rate tensors and velocity discontinuities. The application of these results to yield design analysis problems is discussed from various viewpoints, with one additional contribution to determining the critical height of a vertical cut.