Hybrid finite element formulations for elastodynamic analysis in the frequency domain

Three alternative sets of hybrid formulations to solve linear elastodynamic problems by the finite element method are presented. They are termed hybrid–mixed, hybrid and hybrid–Trefftz and differ essentially on the field conditions that the approximation functions are constrained to satisfy locally. Two models, namely the displacement and the stress models, are obtained for each formulation depending on whether the tractions or the boundary displacements are the field chosen to implement interelement continuity. A Fourier time discretization is used to uncouple the solving system in the frequency domain. The basic space discretization criterion is implemented directly on the fundamental relations of elastodynamics and used to derive the stress and displacement models of the hybrid–mixed formulation. The hybrid and hybrid–Trefftz formulations are presented in sequence as the variants of the hybrid–mixed formulation obtained by progressively increasing the constraints on the approximation bases. Numerical implementation aspects are briefly discussed and the performance of the finite element models is illustrated with numerical applications.