In this paper, a novel model for elasto-plastic continua is presented and developed from the ground up. It is based on the interdependence between plasticity, dislocation motion and strain incompatibility. A generalized form of the equilibrium equations is provided, with as additional variables, the strain incompatibility and an internal thermodynamic variable called incompatibility modulus, which drives the plastic behaviour of the continuum. The traditional equations of elasticity are

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... d as this modulus tends to infinity, while perfect plasticity corresponds to the vanishing limit. The overall nonlinear scheme is determined by the solution of these equations together with the computation of the topological derivative of the dissipation, in order to comply with the second principle of thermodynamics.