An incremental variational formulation of dissipative magnetostriction at the macroscopic continuum level

This paper outlines a new variational-based modeling and computational implementation of macroscopic continuum magneto-mechanics involving non-linear, inelastic material behavior, with a special focus on dissipative magnetostriction. It is based on a constitutive variational principle that optimizes a generalized incremental work function with respect to the internal state variables. In an incremental setting at finite time steps, this variational problem defines a quasi-hyper-magnetoelastic potential for the stresses and the magnetic induction, and incorporates energy storage as well as dissipative mechanisms. The existence of this potential further allows the incremental boundary-value problem of quasi-static inelastic magneto-mechanics to be recast into a principle of stationary incremental energy. The second focus of this paper is on the careful construction of the energy storage and dissipation functions for the model problem of hysteretic magnetostriction at the macroscopic level. It is then demonstrated that the proposed model is capable of predicting the ferromagnetic and field-induced strain hysteresis curves characteristic of magnetostrictive material response in good agreement with experiments. The numerical solution of the coupled non-linear boundary-value problem is based on a monolithic multi-field finite element implementation. As a consequence of the proposed incremental variational principle, the discretization of the multi-field problem appears in a compact symmetric format. In this sense, the proposed formulation provides a canonical framework for the simulation of boundary-value-problems in dissipative magnetostriction at the macro-level. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested by application to relevant numerical examples. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.