Revised identification of strain gradient elastic parameters

The work reported in “Granular micromechanics-based identification of isotropic strain gradient parameters for elastic geometrically nonlinear deformations” misidentified key terms in the grain-pair objective relative displacement when accounting for the second gradient of placement. In this paper, we correct that oversight by deriving a revised expression for the grain-pair objective relative displacement within the granular micromechanics framework. The amended terms, which resemble Christoffel symbols expressed in terms of strain gradients, modify the contributions of both the normal and tangential components to the strain energy and, consequently, alter the identified strain-gradient elastic parameters. Importantly, the identification of the standard (first gradient) elastic tensor remains unchanged. This brief paper presents the corrected derivation, the resulting stiffness tensors for anisotropic strain-gradient elasticity, and updated analytical expressions for the material parameters in both 2D and 3D isotropic settings.