THE KACANOV METHOD FOR A NONLINEAR VARIATIONAL INEQUALITY OF THE SECOND KIND ARISING IN ELASTOPLASTICITY

The authors first prove a convergence result on the Ka(?)anov method for solving generalnonlinear variational inequalities of the second kind and then apply the Kacanov method tosolve a nonlinear variational inequality of the second kind arising in elastoplasticity. In additionto the convergence result, an a posteriori error estimate is shown for the Kacanov iterates. Ineach step of the Ka(?)anov iteration, one has a (linear) variational inequality of the secondkind, which can be solved by using a regularization technique. The Ka(?)anov iteration andthe regularization technique together provide approximations which can be readily computednumerically. An a posteriori error estimate is derived for the combined effect of the Ka(?)anoviteration and the regularization.