Abstract:
We study nonlinear waves in a Maxwell medium in which residual strains and hardening occur. The properties of the medium are defined so that for slow processes with characteristic times much greater than the stress relaxation time, the medium behaves as an elastoplastic medium. We analyze continuous travelling waves in the form of smoothed steps regarded as discontinuity structures in an elastoplastic medium and demonstrate the dependence of relations at discontinuities on the definition of the stress relaxation process in the discontinuity structure.