Robust Iterative Solvers for Gao Type Nonlinear Beam Models in Elasticity

The goal of this paper is to present various types of iterative solvers: gradient iteration, Newton’s method and a quasi-Newton method, for the finite element solution of elliptic problems arising in Gao type beam models (a geometrical type of nonlinearity, with respect to the Euler–Bernoulli hypothesis). Robust behaviour, i.e., convergence independently of the mesh parameters, is proved for these methods, and they are also tested with numerical experiments.