ABSTRACT
A novel micromorphic formulation is presented to describe the flexoelectric effects in solids undergoing finite deformations. The micromorphic approach allows one to capture higher-order effects associated with strain gradients in a standard C 0 finite element formulation. This is crucial as flexoelctricity is induced via strain gradients. The flexibility of the proposed finite element formulation is first demonstrated for a micromorphic mechanical problem. The formulation is then applied to the problem of finite electro-elasticity, before combing all the physics to address flexoelctricity. We will denonstrate a mesh refinement strategy to efficiently solve this challenging problem.
