Four-field mixed finite elements for incompressible nonlinear elasticity

Abstract

We present a stable finite element method for incompressible nonlinear elasticity based on a four-field mixed formulation involving the displacement, displacement gradient, first Piola--Kirchhoff stress and pressure. Unlike existing four-field mixed formulations, such as the compatible strain mixed finite element method (CSFEM), the proposed approach employs a discontinuous displacement field and requires no stabilisation in either 2D or 3D. A Newton--Raphson linearisation is derived and finite element pairs satisfying the relevant inf-sup conditions are identified. To recover accurate continuous displacement fields, an efficient postprocessing technique is further introduced. We establish the well-posedness of the linearised continuous problem together with a priori error estimates for the discrete formulation. Extensive numerical experiments in both 2D and 3D demonstrate optimal or even super convergence rates and enhanced robustness, particularly in 3D where CSFEM typically requires stabilisation.