Uniform Strain Elements for Three-Node Triangular and Four-Node Tetrahedral Meshes

Journal Article · Tue Mar 02 00:00:00 EST 1999 · International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering

OSTI ID:4174

Dohrmann, C R; Heinstein, M W; Jung, J; Key, S W; Witkowski, W R

A family of uniform strain elements is presented for three-node triangular and four-node tetrahedral meshes. The elements use the linear interpolation functions of the original mesh, but each element is associated with a single node. As a result, a favorable constraint ratio for the volumetric response is obtained for problems in solid mechanics. The uniform strain elements do not require the introduction of additional degrees of freedom and their performance is shown to be significantly better than that of three-node triangular or four-node tetrahedral elements. In addition, nodes inside the boundary of the mesh are observed to exhibit superconvergent behavior for a set of example problems.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 4174
• Report Number(s): SAND99-0505J; TRN: AH200113%%99
• Journal Information: International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Other Information: Submitted to International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering; PBD: 2 Mar 1999
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
MESH GENERATION
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
INTERPOLATION
PERFORMANCE
NODAL EXPANSION METHOD
MECHANICS