Meshfree-enriched simplex elements with strain smoothing for the finite element analysis of compressible and nearly incompressible solids

This paper presents a meshfree-enriched finite element formulation for triangular and tetrahedral elements in the analysis of two and three-dimensional compressible and nearly incompressible solids. The new formulation is first established in two-dimensional case by introducing a meshfree approximation into a linear triangular finite element with an enriched node. The interpolation functions of the four-noded triangular element are constructed by the meshfree convex approximations and are completed to a polynomial of degree one. The reference mapping using the constructed interpolation functions is shown to be invertible everywhere in the element and the global element area is proven to be conserved under a standard three-point integration rule. The triangular element formulation is extendable to the tetrahedral element in three-dimensional case. To provide a locking-free analysis for the nearly incompressible materials, an area-weighted strain smoothing is developed in conjunction with the enriched interpolation functions to yield a discrete divergence-free property at the integration point. The resultant element formulation with strain smoothing is shown to pass the patch test. To introduce the smoothed strain into Galerkin formulation, a modified Hu–Washizu variational principle is adopted to formulate the discrete equations. Since the Kronecker-delta property in element interpolation is held along the element boundary using meshfree convex approximation, boundary conditions can be treated in a standard way. Several numerical benchmarks are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method.

► We present a displacement-based meshfree-enriched FEM (ME-FEM) using simplex element.
► Convex ME-FEM has Kronecker-delta property, and is discrete divergence-free.
► The area-weighted strain smoothing scheme using ME-FEM passes numerical inf-sup test.
► The proposed method achieves uniformly converged and checkerboard-free solution.