Computational analysis of gradient elasticity often requires the trial solution to be C 1 , yet constructing simple C 1 finite elements is not trivial. In this paper, three four-node 24-DOF quadrilateral elements for gradient elasticity analysis are devised by generalizing some of the advanced element formulations for thin-plate analysis. These include the discrete Kirchhoff method, a relaxed hybrid-stress method, and the hybrid-stress method with equilibrating internal force modes. The first two methods start with the derivation of a C 0 displacement, which is quadratic complete in the Cartesian coordinates. In the first method, at the midside points are derived and interpolated together with those at the nodes. Strain is derived from the displacement interpolation yet the second-order displacement derivatives are derived from the displacement-gradient interpolation. In the second method, only the assumed constant double-stress modes are employed to enforce the continuity of the normal derivative of the displacement. In the third method, the equilibrating internal force modes require the C 1 displacement to be defined only along the element boundary and the domain interpolation can be avoided. Patch test involving linear stress and constant double stress as well as other tests are presented to validate the proposed elements.
KEYWORDSC 1 displacement, discrete Kirchhoff, finite element, gradient elasticity, hybrid formulation
INTRODUCTIONConventional elasticity theories employ strain as the only deformation measure and do not take the internal length scale of the material into account. They work well while the characteristic length of the deformation is considerably larger than the internal length scale. The requirement is met in conventional engineering applications of compact materials but not necessarily in, eg, natural materials, artificial cellular/foam materials, and micro/nano-devices. 1-6 A bottleneck for many gradient-enhanced theories to gain wider acceptance is probably the C 1 requirement on the basis functions. As meshless and isogeometric methods can construct highly continuous basis functions, 2,7-11 the integration of the weak form and the enforcement of boundary conditions in these method are not as straightforward as the finite element method. Furthermore, the support of the highly continuous basis functions is larger than those of the finite element model, leading to less sparse system matrices and long computing time. To date, the finite element method remains to be a well-accepted tool for engineering analyses. Unfortunately, the existing C 1 finite elements pose strict requirement on the mesh topology, 128 possess second-/third-order derivatives of the interpolated variable as the nodal degrees of freedom (DOFs), and/or employ heterosis nodes which are different from other element nodes in the nodal DOFs. 12 For instance, Agyris's three-node and six-node triangles use (u, u, x , u, y , u, xx , u, xy , u, yy ) as the parameters at the corner nodes and u, n , the displacement gradient along th...