Abstract
The idea of using material forces also termed configurational forces in a computational setting is presented. The theory of material forces is briefly recast in the terms of a non-linear elastic solid. It is shown, how in a computational setting with finite elements (FE) the discrete configurational forces are calculated once the classical field equations are solved. This post-process calculation is performed in a way, which is consistent with the approximation of the classical field equations. Possible physical meanings of this configurational forces are discussed. A purely computational aspect of material forces is pointed out, where material forces act as an indicator to obtain softer discretizations.
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Received 12 December 2001 / Accepted 18 March 2002
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Mueller, R., Maugin, G. On material forces and finite element discretizations. Computational Mechanics 29, 52–60 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00466-002-0322-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00466-002-0322-2