3D analyses of cavitation instabilities accounting for plastic anisotropy

Full three dimensional cell model analyses are carried out for a solid containing a single small void, in order to determine the critical stress levels for the occurrence of cavitation instabilities. The material models applied are elastic‐viscoplastic, with a small rate‐hardening exponent, and the main focus is on the effect of different degrees of plastic anisotropy. Loading cases are considered, where all the macroscopic principal stresses differ. The numerical quasi‐static solutions are obtained by a full transient analysis of the equations of motion, in which the loading is applied so slowly that the quasi‐static solution is well approximated. A special procedure is used to strongly reduce the loading rate a little before the instability occurs. It is found that plastic anisotropy has a significant effect on the level of the critical stress for cavitation instabilities.