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The finite element method for the mechanically based model of non-local continuum

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SUMMARY In this paper the finite element method (FEM) for the mechanically based non-local elastic continuum model is proposed. In such a model each volume element of the domain is considered mutually interacting with the others, beside classical interactions involved by the Cauchy stress field, by means of central body forces that are monotonically decreasing with their inter-distance and proportional to the product of the interacting volume elements. The constitutive relations of the long-range interactions involve the product of the relative displacement of the centroids of volume elements by a proper, distance-decaying function, which accounts for the decrement of the long-range interactions as long as distance increases. In this study, the elastic problem involving long-range central interactions for isotropic elastic continuum will be solved with the aid of the FEM. The accuracy of the solution obtained with the proposed FEM code is compared with other solutions obtained with Galerkins’ approximation as well as with finite difference method. Moreover, a parametric study regarding the effect of the material length scale in the mechanically based model and in the Kroner–Eringen non-local elasticity has been investigated for a plane elasticity problem. Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.