A novel continuum model for the reduction of numerical errors of finite-element analysis

Abstract

The authors developed a novel numerical formulation that reduces the computational expense of solving linear and non-linear constitutive models. A finite-element constitutive law followed by a novel continuum model is discussed. The proposed approach is employed to reduce numerical errors obtained from the standard finite-element method. The continuum model is based on the Lagrange multipliers strategy along with the finite-difference method and a least-square algorithm. It is crucial to this approach that the components of either the strain or the stress tensor are known at the nodes of the finite-element mesh. The proposed model is independent of element topology which can be strongly and arbitrarily distorted.