Polyhedral elements by means of node/edge‐based smoothed finite element method

• Published in: International journal for numerical methods in engineering Vol. 110; no. 11; pp. 1069 - 1100
• Main Authors: Lee, Chan, Kim, Hobeom, Im, Seyoung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 15.06.2017; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Convergence; edge‐based smoothed finite element method (ES‐FEM); Finite element analysis; Finite element method; Interpolation; nearly incompressible material; node‐based smoothed finite element method (NS‐FEM); polyhedral finite elements; Robustness (mathematics); Shape functions; smoothed finite element method (S‐FEM)
• ISSN: 0029-5981; 1097-0207
• DOI: 10.1002/nme.5449

Summary The node‐based or edge‐based smoothed finite element method is extended to develop polyhedral elements that are allowed to have an arbitrary number of nodes or faces, and so retain a good geometric adaptability. The strain smoothing technique and implicit shape functions based on the linear point interpolation make the element formulation simple and straightforward. The resulting polyhedral elements are free from the excessive zero‐energy modes and yield a robust solution very much insensitive to mesh distortion. Several numerical examples within the framework of linear elasticity demonstrate the accuracy and convergence behavior. The smoothed finite element method‐based polyhedral elements in general yield solutions of better accuracy and faster convergence rate than those of the conventional finite element methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.