Practical Modelling

Meshing strategies

Combinations of different element types are possible but be careful that they have the same DOF
e.g. you cannot combine a beam element to a solid element. The solid has 3 displacement DOF and the
beam has 3 rotations

1. know the behaviour of each type of element

3-node triangle and 4-node quadrilateral: linear displacement, constant strain and stress
6-node triangle and 8-node quadrilateral: quadratic displacement, linear strain and stress
2. choose the right type of elements for a given problem
3. avoid elements with large aspect ratios and corner angles

4. connect the elements properly

Don't leave unintended gaps or free elements

Examples of poor mesh

Non-matching Nodes

Matching Nodes but Non-matching Sides

Recommended Combination of Elements

Linear elements: use 3-node triangle and 4-node quadrilateral together

Quadratic elements: use 6-node triangle and 8-node quadrilateral together
Use quadrilateral elements for stress analysis: have high accuracy and flexibility and are suitable for
complex geometry

NB. Commercial packages will usually have automatic mesh generation which you can use for simple
geometries

Convergence of solution
As the mesh is refined, the FEM solution should approach the analytical solution of the mathematical model.

Convergence requirements
Completeness. Finite element must be able to assume constant values (e.g. constant strain)
Compatibility. The shape functions must be able to provide displacement continuity between elements.
Stability. The system of equations must be such that excessive element distortion is avoided.

Types of mesh refinement

h-refinement: reduce element size
p-refinement: increase the order of the polynomial (i.e. linear to quadratic, etc.)
r-refinement: rearrange nodes in the mesh
hp-refinement: combination of the h and p refinements

Errors and error estimation

Error is the difference between the exact and the approximate solution
This can apply to the trial function (i.e. displacements) or strains and stresses

This type of error measurement is not convenient and can be misleading e.g. under a point load you
could have localised errors in strains and stresses

There are three possible sources of error:

1. Domain approximation error: due to approximation of the domain
With mesh refinement, domain can be more accurately represented; errors are expected to approach
zero
2. Quadrature and finite arithmetic errors: due to the numerical evaluation of integrals and the numerical
computation on a computer

errors are assumed to be small in linear systems with a small number of DOF

3. Approximation error: due to the approximation of the solution

The approximation error is zero for single second-order and fourth-order equations with elementwise constant coefficients

Error Measurement

There are several ways of measuring the difference between two functions and
Supmetric error- this is the maximum of all absolute values of the differences of
(
)
domain

The supmetric error is a real number

Pointwise error- difference between and
at each point in the domain. It is a function and not a
distance or a norm. The norm of a function is a non-negative real number
The more commonly used methods of error estimation are the energy norm and the
norm
(
), the two norms are
For any square-integrable functions and
defined on the domain
defined by

and

Different measures of error

between the exact solution
and the finite element solution . The maximum norm and the
norm are illustrated

and

in the