On the finite element implementation of rubber-like materials at finite strains

The objective of this work is to develop an element technology to recover the plane stress response without any plane stress specific modifications in the large strain regime. Therefore, the essential feature of the proposed element formulation is an interface to arbitrary three-dimensional constitutive laws. The easily implemented and computational cheap four-noded element is characterized by coarse mesh accuracy and the satisfaction of the plane stress constraint in a weak sense. A number of example problems involving arbitrary small and large strain constitutive models demonstrate the excellent performance of the concept pursued in this work.