A Stochastic Finite Element Method with a Deviatoric-volumetric Split for the Stochastic Linear Isotropic Elasticity Tensor

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical method for solution of a stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) for a linear elastic body with stochastic coefficients (random variables and/or random fields). To this end the stochastic finite element method (SFEM) is employed, which uses WIENER’S polynomial chaos expansion in order to decompose the coefficients into deterministic and stochastic parts. As a special case, we consider isotropic material behavior with two fluctuating parameters. Computational approaches involving GALERKIN projection are applied to reduce the SPDE into a system of deterministic PDEs. Furthermore, we consider normally distributed random variables, which are assumed to be stochastically independent, and which establish the number of stochastic dimensions. Subsequently, the resulting finite element equation is solved iteratively. Finally, in a representative example for a plate with a ring hole we study the influence of different variances for material parameters on the variances for the finite element results.