Nodes Of Element Mesh Research Articles

A stable node-based smoothed finite element method for acoustic problems

It is well-known that the classical “overly-soft” node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) fails to provide reliable results to the Helmholtz equation due to the “temporal instability”. To cure the fatal drawback of NS-FEM and reduce the dispersion error in computational acoustics, this paper proposed a stable node-based smoothed finite element method (SNS-FEM) for analyzing acoustic problems using linear triangular (for 2D space) and tetrahedral (for 3D space) elements that can be generated automatically for any complicated configurations. In the present formulation, the system stiffness matrix is computed using the smoothed acoustic pressure gradients together with the gradient variance items over the smoothing domains associated with nodes of element mesh. It turns out the addition of stabilization term makes the SNS-FEM possess an ideal stiffness, thus successfully cures the temporal instability and significantly reduces the dispersion error in acoustic problems. Numerical examples, including both benchmark cases and practical engineering problems, demonstrate that the SNS-FEM possesses the following important properties: (1) temporal stability; (2) super accuracy and super convergence; (3) higher computational efficiency; (4) insensitive to mesh distortion.

A node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) for upper bound solution to visco-elastoplastic analyses of solids using triangular and tetrahedral meshes

A node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) was recently proposed for the solid mechanics problems. In the NS-FEM, the system stiffness matrix is computed using the smoothed strains over the smoothing domains associated with nodes of element mesh. In this paper, the NS-FEM is further extended to more complicated visco-elastoplastic analyses of 2D and 3D solids using triangular and tetrahedral meshes, respectively. The material behavior includes perfect visco-elastoplasticity and visco-elastoplasticity with isotropic hardening and linear kinematic hardening. A dual formulation for the NS-FEM with displacements and stresses as the main variables is performed. The von-Mises yield function and the Prandtl–Reuss flow rule are used. In the numerical procedure, however, the stress variables are eliminated and the problem becomes only displacement-dependent. The numerical results show that the NS-FEM has higher computational cost than the FEM. However the NS-FEM is much more accurate than the FEM, and hence the NS-FEM is more efficient than the FEM. It is also observed from the numerical results that the NS-FEM possesses the upper bound property which is very meaningful for the visco-elastoplastic analyses which almost have not got the analytical solutions. This suggests that we can use two models, NS-FEM and FEM, to bound the solution, and can even estimate the global relative error of numerical solutions.

ADDITIONAL PROPERTIES OF THE NODE-BASED SMOOTHED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (NS-FEM) FOR SOLID MECHANICS PROBLEMS

A node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) for solving solid mechanics problems using a mesh of general polygonal elements was recently proposed. In the NS-FEM, the system stiffness matrix is computed using the smoothed strains over the smoothing domains associated with nodes of element mesh, and a number of important properties have been found, such as the upper bound property and free from the volumetric locking. The examination was performed only for two-dimensional (2D) problems. In this paper, we (1) extend the NS-FEM to three-dimensional (3D) problems using tetrahedral elements (NS-FEM-T4), (2) reconfirm the upper bound and free from the volumetric locking properties for 3D problems, and (3) explore further other properties of NS-FEM for both 2D and 3D problems. In addition, our examinations will be thorough and performed fully using the error norms in both energy and displacement. The results in this work revealed that NS-FEM possesses two additional interesting properties that quite similar to the equilibrium FEM model such as: (1) super accuracy and super-convergence of stress solutions; (2) similar accuracy of displacement solutions compared to the standard FEM model.