A practical error estimator in elastoplastic problems with large strains. Part I: theoretical development

Abstract

This paper focuses on the study of finite element (FE) analysis reliability of non‐linear planar structural problems (large strains and plasticity). In this first part, some error estimators of the flux projection type have been developed over the strain power density concept. Spatial, temporal and global error estimators are proposed. From this point, the authors analyse the behaviour of different discretization error components as a function of parameters such as load step or the number of degrees of freedom of the FE model. In the second part of this work, several properties of these estimators are checked with the application to some numerical examples.