Stroh finite element for two-dimensional linear anisotropic elastic solids

A general solution satisfying the strain-displacement relation, the stress-strain laws and the equilibrium conditions has been obtained in Stroh formalism for the generalized two-dimensional anisotropic elasticity. The general solution contains three arbitrary complex functions which are the basis of the whole field stresses and deformations. By selecting these arbitrary functions to be linear or quadratic, and following the direct finite element formulation, a new finite element satisfying both the compatibility and equilibrium within each element is developed in this paper. A computer windows program is then coded by using the FORTRAN and Visual Basic languages. Two numerical examples are shown to illustrate the performance of this newly developed finite element. One is the uniform stress field problem, the other is the stress concentration problem.