Updated Lagrangian polar decomposition method in non‐linear elasticity and its shell element implementation

Abstract

In this paper, the relation between the incremental right stretch tensor by the total Lagrangian (T.L.) description and that by the updated Lagrangian (U.L.) description is obtained. The incremental polar decomposition method without drilling degrees of freedom is developed. The non-linear shell elements using the Biot strain tensor as the strain measure are established. The non-linear finite element formulation based on the polar composition theorem is developed with respect to the U.L. description. As a by-product the material time derivative of the right stretch tensor is given by a new form suitable for numerical evaluations. Two examples demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed incremental polar decomposition method. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.