A Three-Node Triangular Element with Continuous Nodal Stress (Trig3-CNS) for Geometry Nonlinear Solid Mechanics Problems

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of the three-node triangular element with continuous nodal stress (Trig3-CNS) for geometry nonlinear solid mechanic problems. This Trig3-CNS element was recently proposed to improve accuracy of the finite element method (FEM). By synergizing the individual strengths of meshfree method and FEM, the Trig3-CNS element achieves higher accuracy and convergence rate. Furthermore, Trig3-CNS presents high tolerance to mesh distortion. Therefore, it is potentially useful for geometry nonlinear solid mechanics problems in which mesh distortion takes place. Compared with the traditional hybrid “FE-Meshfree” elements, Trig3-CNS naturally processes CNS without requiring any extra operation in post-processing. Numerical tests in the present work show that for geometry nonlinear analysis, the results of the Trig3-CNS element are better than the 3-node triangular element (Trig3) and 4-node isoparametric quadrilateral element (Quad4). In addition, the performance of Trig3-CNS is comparable to that of traditional hybrid “FE-Meshfree” elements.