THE 7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

"CIVIL ENGINEERING - SCIENCE AND PRACTICE"

GNP 2020 – Kolašin, Montenegro, 10-14 March 2020

Mili Selimotić1, Armin Hadrović2, Đani Rahimić3

NUMERICAL INTEGRATION FOR A FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

WITH POLYHEDRAL ELEMENT GEOMETRY

Abstract
In any numerical method, an accurate and effective quadrature scheme to approximate the
elements of the stiffness matrix is essential for the success of the method. Numerical integration
is also a key issue in ensuring the convergence of Galerkin methods. In the conventional,
displacement based Finite Element Method (FEM), a mesh is used to construct the trial space
for approximating the solution, as well as to perform quadrature. Main characteristics of the
conventional FEM include an accurate and explicit definition of the boundary of the domain;
convenient application of boundary conditions; a sparse and banded global equation structure;
and a high level of accuracy relative to the computational effort. However, problems involving
frequent remeshing, e.g. extreme deformations or crack extension, require significant effort,
especially in human terms. The Variable Element Topology Finite Element Method
(VETFEM), on the other hand, imposes much milder restrictions on the mesh forming rules. As
with the conventional FEM, VETFEM elements are used to construct shape functions and to
develop and apply suitable numerical quadrature. VETFEM constructs an efficient integration
rule for placement of the integration points within arbitrary polyhedra while assigning weights
to each integration point in the element. Here, numerical integration of monomials of element
shape functions that are typical for the 3D VETFEM is presented. The aforementioned element
shape functions are formed as low-order polynomials in the physical coordinates of the
problem. First, line integrals of all monomials are evaluated on element edges using Gauss
quadrature. Then, an efficient integration strategy is employed to recursively integrate
monomials on the element surface and on the interior of the element. Finally, a suitable
integration rule for placement of the integration points within the element, and assignment of
weights to each integration point is described.
Key words
VETFEM, FEM, mesh generation, node, shape functions, numerical integration

1
Van.prof.dr., dipl.ing.građ., Univerzitet „Džemal Bijedić“ Mostar, Građevinski fakultet, mili.selimotic@unmo.ba
2
Van.prof.dr., dipl.ing.građ., Univerzitet „Džemal Bijedić“ Mostar, Građevinski fakultet, armin.hadrovic@unmo.ba
3
Docent dr., dipl.ing.građ., Univerzitet „Džemal Bijedić“ Mostar, Građevinski fakultet, djani.rahimic@unmo.ba

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3. INTEGRATION RULE

In non-linear problems, the material state must be evaluated and stored at discrete points
within each element before using numerical integration to form the stress divergence term in the
weak form of equilibrium. The VETFEM provides a suitable quadrature rule for placement of
integration points within the element, and assignment of weights to each integration point.
A typical 3D VETFEM element is subdivided into sub-regions, with one corresponding to
each node of the element. The sub-regions are constructed as illustrated in the Figure (1): first the
centroid of each facet is connected to the middle of each edge of the facet. Then, the edge mid-
sides and the facet centroids are connected to the centroid of the element. The volume and the
centroid of the resulting sub-regions can then be evaluated by integrating 1 and x over the sub-
regions using the approach described in the previous subsection. The integration points for the
element then take the location of the centroids of the sub-regions, and the corresponding weights
are taken to be the volumes of the sub-regions. . This one-to-one correspondence between the
element nodes and integration points has many advantages in facilitating the solution remapping
that follows remeshing in problems that involve extreme deformations [7]. Another positive feature
of this integration rule is that an arbitrary linear function on the element is exactly integrated.

Figure 1. Placement of integration points for 3D VETFEM elements

4. CONCLUSION

The problem of material state remapping computationally consists of determining the

intersections between so-called "tributary regions" associated with a point (i.e. node, integration
point) in the new mesh, with regions in the old mesh that correspond with old mesh integration
points or nodes. It can be seen that both the re-meshing and material state data remapping tasks
involve dealing with complicated computational geometry issues. VETFEM elements can take any
polyhedral shape and possess much milder non-convexity restrictions that considerably simplify
the automatic mesh generation and material state remapping. VETFEM shape functions take the
form of low-order polynomials in the physical coordinates of the domain. The coefficients

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appearing in these polynomials are set so that the Kronecker-delta property of finite-element-type
shape functions is achieved, along with inter-element compatibility in the mean on each facet, and
consistency of the previously outlined integration rule. The method employs recursive recovery of
integrals of all monomials of a given order in shape functions providing an efficient computational
strategy.

LITERATURE

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