A New Mixed Finite Element Method for Elastodynamics with Weak Symmetry

We provide a new mixed finite element analysis for linear elastodynamics with reduced symmetry. The problem is formulated as a second order system in time by imposing only the Cauchy stress tensor and the rotation as primary and secondary variables, respectively. We prove that the resulting variational formulation is well-posed and provide a convergence analysis for a class of H(div)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\mathrm {H}}(\mathop {{\mathrm {div}}}\nolimits )$$\end{document}-conforming semi-discrete schemes. In addition, we use the Newmark trapezoidal rule to obtain a fully discrete version of the problem and carry out the corresponding convergence analysis. Finally, numerical tests illustrating the performance of the fully discrete scheme are presented.