A procedure for developing multi-material elements, which are able to elimi
nate the weakness of the conventional finite elements in determining the st
ress distributions along the interfaces of different materials, has been pr
oposed. The results obtained by this multi-material element type are in goo
d agreement with those obtained by a modified finite element approach, whic
h employs the least square fitting method to improve the calculation of int
erfacial stresses. Moreover, these two solutions are superior to the conven
tional finite element solution. The improvements made by these two modified
solutions are entirely due to the imposition of the necessary and sufficie
nt equilibrium and compatibility conditions at the interfaces. It is worth
noting that while the two modified finite element approaches provide compar
able accuracy, the proposed approach using new multi-material elements is m
uch easier to implement. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
.