\(C^1\)-continuous stress recovery in finite element analysis (Q1371691)

A penalized discrete-least-squares (PDLS) variational principle is employed to recover \(C^1\)-continuous, smooth stress fields from finite element stresses. The error functional involves discrete least squares with a penalty constraint to enforce \(C^1\)-continuity of the recovered stresses. The recovery procedure uses a smoothing element analysis (SEA), with element-based interpolation functions, to minimize the error functional. SEA/PDLS recovers a superconvergent stress field of higher accuracy and continuity than the underlying, `consistent' finite element stress field. General and specialized formulations of the functional are given, and an appropriate discretization strategy for the SEA is discussed. Numerical results for both one- and two-dimensional stress fields are presented and compared with the corresponding solutions for the superconvergent patch recovery method of Zienkiewicz and Zhu.