Solid Elements for 3-D

Problems
By
S. Ziaei Rad
3-D Elasticity Theory
Stress State:
 3-D Elasticity Theory
Strains: Stress-strain relation:
 3-D Elasticity Theory
Displacement:

Strain-Displacement Relation:
 3-D Elasticity Theory

Equilibrium Equations:
 3-D Elasticity Theory
Boundary Conditions (BC’s):
 Finite Element Formulation
Displacement Field:

In matrix form:

or
 Finite Element Formulation
Using the previous relations, we can derive the strain vector

Stiffness Matrix:

Numerical quadratures are often needed to evaluate the above

integration.
Rigid-body motions for 3-D bodies (6 components):3
translations, 3 rotations.
These rigid-body motions (singularity of the system of equations)
must be removed from the FEA model to ensure the quality of
the analysis.
 Typical 3-D Solid Elements
Tetrahedron:

Hexahedron (brick):
 Typical 3-D Solid Elements
Penta:

Avoid using the linear (4-node) tetrahedron element in 3-D

stress analysis (Inaccurate! But it is OK for dynamic
analysis).
 Element Formulation
Linear Hexahedron Element
6

Displacement field in the element:

(1)
 Element Formulation
Shape functions:

(2)
 Element Formulation
Note that we have the following relations for the shape
functions:

and

Coordinate Transformation (Mapping):

(3)

The same shape functions are used as for the displacement

field. ⇒ Isoparametric element.
 Element Formulation
Jacobian Matrix:

(4)

(5)
and

also for w.
Element Formulation

where d is the nodal displacement vector

(6)
 Element Formulation
Strain energy,

Element stiffness matrix,

 Element Formulation

Note: 3-D elements usually do not use rotational DOFs.

Loads: Distributed loads ⇒ Nodal forces
 Element Formulation
Stresses:

Principal stresses:

von Mises stress:

Stresses are evaluated at selected points (including nodes)

on each element. Averaging (around a node, for example)
may be employed to smooth the field.
 Four-Node Tetrahedra
4
z N1 = ξ
N2 = η
ξ =0 3 N3 = ζ
w1

v1
N4 = 1− ξ −η − ζ
u1 1 ζ
ξ =1 2 3(0,0,1)
y
4(0,0,0)
x Tetrahedral Element ξ
2(0,1,1)

η 1(1,0,0) Master element for

shape function
 Four-Node Tetrahedra
u = Nd
 N1 0 0 N2 0 0 N3 0 0 N4 0 0
N =  0 N1 0 0 N2 0 0 N3 0 0 N4 0 
 0 0 N1 0 0 N2 0 0 N3 0 0 N 4 
d = {u1 v1 w1 … u4 v4 w4 }T
For iso-parametric formulation we have:
x = N1 x1 + N 2 x2 + N 3 x3 + N 4 x4 x = x4 + x14ξ + x24η + x34ζ
y = N1 y1 + N 2 y2 + N 3 y3 + N 4 y4 Or y = y4 + y14ξ + y24η + y34ζ
z = N1 z1 + N 2 z 2 + N 3 z3 + N 4 z 4 z = z 4 + z14ξ + z 24η + z34ζ
 Four-Node Tetrahedra
 ∂u   ∂u   ∂u 
 ∂u   ∂ξ 
 ∂ξ   ∂x   ∂x 
       
 ∂u   ∂u   ∂u  −1  ∂u 
  = J   or  = J  
∂
 η  ∂y   ∂y   ∂η 
 ∂u   ∂u   ∂u   ∂u 
       
∂ζ  ∂z   ∂z   ∂ζ 
 
 ∂x ∂y ∂z 
 ∂ξ ∂ξ ∂ξ   x
 14 y14 z14 
∂z  
z 24 
∂x ∂y
J = =  x24 y24
 ∂η ∂η ∂η 
 ∂x ∂y ∂z   x34 y34 z34 
 
 ∂ζ ∂ζ ∂ζ 
 Four-Node Tetrahedra
ε = Bd and
~
 A11 0 0 A12 0 0 A13 0 0 − A1 0 0 
 ~ 
 0 A21 0 0 A22 0 0 A23 0 0 − A2 0 
 0 ~
0 A31 0 0 A32 0 0 A33 0 0 − A3 
B= ~ ~
 0 A31 A21 0 A32 A22 0 A33 A23 0 − A3 − A2 
A ~ ~
0 A11 A32 0 A12 A33 0 A13 − A3 0 − A1 
 31 ~ ~ 
 A21 A11 0 A22 A12 0 A23 A13 0 − A2 − A1 0 
~
where A1 = A11 + A12 + A13
~
A2 = A21 + A22 + A23
~
A3 = A31 + A32 + A33