Summary In this study, a locking‐free n‐sided C1 polygonal finite element is presented for nonlinear analysis of laminated plates. The plate kinematics is based on Reddy's third‐order shear deformation theory (TSDT). The in‐plane displacements are approximated using barycentric form of Lagrange shape functions. The weak‐form Galerkin formulation based on the kinematics of TSDT requires the C1 approximation of the transverse displacement over the polygonal element. This is achieved by embedding the C0 Lagrange interpolants over a cubic Bernstein‐Bezier patch defined over the n‐sided polygonal element. Such an approach ensures the continuity of the derivative field at the inter‐element edges. In addition, Eringen's stress‐gradient nonlocal constitutive equations are used in the present formulation to account for nonlocality. The effect of geometric nonlinearity is taken by considering the von Kármán geometric nonlinearity. Examples are presented to show the effect of nonlocality, geometric nonlinearity, and the lamination scheme on the bending behavior of laminated composite plates. The results are compared with analytical solutions, conventional FEM results, and with those available in the literature. Shear locking is addressed considering reduced integration and consistent interpolation techniques. The patch test is used to check the convergence of the element developed.

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PurposeThis study implements the fourth-order phase field method (PFM) for modeling fracture in brittle materials. The weak form of the fourth-order PFM requires C1 basis functions for the crack evolution scalar field in a finite element framework. To address this, non-Sibsonian type shape functions that are nonpolynomial types based on distance measures, are used in the context of natural neighbor shape functions. The capability and efficiency of this method are studied for modeling cracks.Design/methodology/approachThe weak form of the fourth-order PFM is derived from two governing equations for finite element modeling. C0 non-Sibsonian shape functions are derived using distance measures on a generalized quad element. Then these shape functions are degree elevated with Bernstein-Bezier (BB) patch to get higher-order continuity (C1) in the shape function. The quad element is divided into several background triangular elements to apply the Gauss-quadrature rule for numerical integration. Both fourth-order and second-order PFMs are implemented in a finite element framework. The efficiency of the interpolation function is studied in terms of convergence and accuracy for capturing crack topology in the fourth-order PFM.FindingsIt is observed that fourth-order PFM has higher accuracy and convergence than second-order PFM using non-Sibsonian type interpolants. The former predicts higher failure loads and failure displacements compared to the second-order model due to the addition of higher-order terms in the energy equation. The fracture pattern is realistic when only the tensile part of the strain energy is taken for fracture evolution. The fracture pattern is also observed in the compressive region when both tensile and compressive energy for crack evolution are taken into account, which is unrealistic. Length scale has a certain specific effect on the failure load of the specimen.Originality/valueFourth-order PFM is implemented using C1 non-Sibsonian type of shape functions. The derivation and implementation are carried out for both the second-order and fourth-order PFM. The length scale effect on both models is shown. The better accuracy and convergence rate of the fourth-order PFM over second-order PFM are studied using the current approach. The critical difference between the isotropic phase field and the hybrid phase field approach is also presented to showcase the importance of strain energy decomposition in PFM.