A variational multiscale approach to strain localization -- formulation for multidimensional problems (Q1579578)

This paper examines the strain localization by using a multiscale variational formulation. The idea is to compute on the coarse scale, but still retain (on the coarse scale) the effects of fine scale. This extends former one-dimensional approach to weak discontinuities [the authors, ibid. 159, No. 3-4, 193-222 (1998; Zbl 0961.74009)]. This multiscale approach results in a non-local constitutive law at the coarse scale, thus avoiding ill-posed mesh-dependent solutions. Both the variational formulation and numerical implementation are presented. The paper concludes with some numerical examples.