A hybrid-Trefftz element containing an elliptic hole

Abstract

Much work on special elements that simplify geometrical modelling of structures containing holes, cracks and/ or inclusions has been reported extensively in the literature. This paper presents a hybrid-Trefftz element containing elliptic hole formulated using Hellinger–Reissner principle by employing trial functions based on the mapping technique and the Cauchy integral method. The element presented in this paper could be regarded as an improved formulation over Piltner [Special finite elements with holes and internal cracks, Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 21 (1985) 1471–1485] element because the chosen trail functions in this paper have provided relatively more stable solutions. The use of the element with other ordinary displacement-based finite elements has also yielded very accurate solutions even when very coarse meshes relative to the size of the elliptic hole have been used.