A virtual element approach for micropolar continua

In this work we propose a novel virtual element approach for solving boundary value problems in 2D linear isotropic micropolar elasticity. Following the basic idea of the Virtual Element Method (VEM), the degrees of freedom of each material point, i.e. the displacement and rotation fields, are decomposed into both a polynomial space, either linear or quadratic, and a remaining space that is kept virtual in the formulation. Generalized consistency and stabilization terms are consistently derived. Different patch tests, properly conceived for micropolar continua, are proposed and compared to reference solutions present in literature. The obtained results are in good agreement with these solutions, confirming the capability of the proposed elements in the modelling of the expected responses. The expected applications of this methodology concern the mechanical study of microstructured materials, inherently characterized by nonlocal response, which has been widely proven to be effectively represented by micropolar continua.