Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computation for Design and Optimization Program, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-81).A number of constitutive theories have arisen describing materials which, by nature, exhibit a non-local response. The formulation of boundary value problems, in this case, leads to a system of equations involving higher-order derivatives which, in turn, results in requirements of continuity of the solution of higher order. Discontinuous Galerkin methods are particularly attractive toward this end, as they provide a means to naturally enforce higher interelement continuity in a weak manner without the need of modifying the finite element interpolation. In this work, a discontinuous Galerkin formulation for boundary value problems in small strain, non-local linear elasticity is proposed. The underlying theory corresponds to the phenomenological strain-gradient theory developed by Fleck and Hutchinson within the Toupin-Mindlin framework. The single-field displacement method obtained enables the discretization of the boundary value problem with a conventional continuous interpolation inside each finite element, whereas the higher-order interelement continuity is enforced in a weak manner. The proposed method is shown to be consistent and stable both theoretically and with suitable numerical examples.by Ram Bala Chandran.S.M
