Stress analysis of a U-Frame structure by the coupling of boundary and finite element methods

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the elastic behaviour of a U-Frame structure by the coupling of boundary and finite element methods and to compare the result with those obtained from the finite element method alone. Finite elements, boundary elements, and joint elements are applied to simulate the behaviour of U-Frame structure, surrounding soil mass, and soil/structure interface, respectively. The limitation of no transfer of tensile stresses across soil/structure interface is ensured by performing iterations on joint elements. An example problem of a U-Frame structure has been analyzed using the two numerical methods indicated above. Comparison of the results obtained from both approaches demonstates the accuracy and validity of the coupling of boundary and finite element methods. As the body force influence in the boundary element region can be transformed into a boundary integral which can be evaluated at the same time as the other boundary integrals, the coupling of boundary and finite element methods provides the advantage of saving labour in data preparation over the finite element method alone.