Plane strain problem in elastically rigid finite plasticity

A theory of elastically rigid finite deformation plasticity emphasizing the role of material symmetry is developed. The fields describing lattice rotation, dislocation density and plastic spin, irrelevant in the case of isotropy, are found to be central to the present framework. A plane strain characteristic theory for anisotropic plasticity is formulated wherein the solutions, as well as the nature of their discontinuities, show remarkable deviation from the classical isotropic slipline theory.