B-bar aided edge-based smoothed finite elements of hexahedron type for elasto-plasticity

The purpose of this study is to perform elastoplastic analysis using an edge-based smoothed finite element of hexahedron type. The edge-based smoothed finite element method has the best performance among the smoothed finite element methods, but has the problem of the volumetric locking phenomenon. Since plastic deformation is an isochoric process, it is accompanied by volumetric locking. In this study, the B-bar approach was introduced in the ESFEM to solve the volumetric locking phenomenon, and to enable elastoplastic analysis. The proposed method was verified to be efficient and accurate by comparison with results from the conventional finite element method.