An energy-stable mixed formulation for isogeometric analysis of incompressible hyper-elastodynamics

Int J Numer Methods Eng. 2019 Nov 23;120(8):937-963. doi: 10.1002/nme.6165. Epub 2019 Jul 5.

Abstract

We develop a mixed formulation for incompressible hyper-elastodynamics based on a continuum modeling framework recently developed in [41] and smooth generalizations of the Taylor-Hood element based on non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS). This continuum formulation draws a link between computational fluid dynamics and computational solid dynamics. This link inspires an energy stability estimate for the spatial discretization, which favorably distinguishes the formulation from the conventional mixed formulations for finite elasticity. The inf-sup condition is utilized to provide a bound for the pressure field. The generalized-α method is applied for temporal discretization, and a nested block preconditioner is invoked for the solution procedure [42]. The inf-sup stability for different pairs of NURBS elements is elucidated through numerical assessment. The convergence rate of the proposed formulation with various combinations of mixed elements is examined by the manufactured solution method. The numerical scheme is also examined under compressive and tensile loads for isotropic and anisotropic hyperelastic materials. Finally, a suite of dynamic problems is numerically studied to corroborate the stability and conservation properties.

Keywords: Anisotropic arterial wall model; Energy stability; Generalized-α method; Incompressible elasticity; Inf-sup condition; Mixed formulation.