On the formulation of enhanced strain finite elements in finite deformations

Presents recent advances obtained by the authors in the development of enhanced strain finite elements for finite deformation problems. Discusses two options, both involving simple modifications of the original enhancement strategy of the deformation gradient as proposed in previous works. The first new strategy is based on a full symmetrization of the original enhanced interpolation fields; the second involves only the transposed part of these fields. Both modifications lead to a significant improvement of the performance in problems involving high compressive stresses, showing in particular a mode‐free response, while maintaining a simple and efficient (strain driven) numerical implementation. Demonstrates these properties with a number of numerical benchmark simulations, including a complete modal analysis of the elements.