>>12998844>It simplifies the math in some cases but like, what about hardening?Hardening is not easy to predict, and neither is analysis of plastic behavior in general, since you need to solve the displacement by iteration (stiffness depends on displacement in the plastic, i.e. non-linear, area of the stress-strain curve).
>How are you gonna predict accurate stresses and deformations like that?Most engineering is done by utilizing elastic range calculations, and if plasticity is applied, it is only done so by rough approximations (simple yield line theory, plastic hinges by virtual work and outrageously simplified assumptions etc.) and not by actually calculating the nonlinear force-deflection curve.
