Three‐field mixed finite element formulations for gradient elasticity at finite strains

Gradient elasticity formulations have the advantage of avoiding geometry‐induced singularities and corresponding mesh dependent finite element solution as apparent in classical elasticity formulations. Moreover, through the gradient enrichment the modeling of a scale‐dependent constitutive behavior becomes possible. In order to remain C 0 continuity, three‐field mixed formulations can be used. Since so far in the literature these only appear in the small strain framework, in this contribution formulations within the general finite strain hyperelastic setting are investigated. In addition to that, an investigation of the inf sup condition is conducted and unveils a lack of existence of a stable solution with respect to the L 2 ‐ H 1 ‐setting of the continuous formulation independent of the constitutive model. To investigate this further, various discretizations are analyzed and tested in numerical experiments. For several approximation spaces, which at first glance seem to be natural choices, further stability issues are uncovered. For some discretizations however, numerical experiments in the finite strain setting show convergence to the correct solution despite the stability issues of the continuous formulation. This gives motivation for further investigation of this circumstance in future research. Supplementary numerical results unveil the ability to avoid singularities, which would appear with classical elasticity formulations.