What is Convergence in Finite Element Analysis

(FEA)?
For those using finite element analysis, the term “convergence” is often used. Most
linear problems do not need an iterative solution procedure. Mesh convergence is an
important issue that needs to be addressed. Additionally, in nonlinear problems,
convergence in the iteration procedure also needs to be considered. So, what does this
mean? In this article, we investigate and address issues related to this term.

CONVERGENCE IN FEA
Mesh Convergence: h- and p-refinement in Finite
Element Analysis
One of the most overlooked issues in computational mechanics that affects
accuracy is mesh convergence. This is related to how small the elements need to be to
ensure that the results of the finite element analysis are not affected by changing the
size of the mesh.
 Fig. 01: Convergence of quantity with an increase in degrees of freedom

As shown in Fig. 01, it is critical to first identify the quantity of interest. At least three
points need to be considered, and as the mesh density increases, the quantity of
interest starts to converge to a particular value. If two subsequent mesh refinements do
not change the result substantially, then one can assume that the result has converged.
Fig. 02: Mesh refinement of a structure
Going into the question of mesh refinement, it is not always necessary for the mesh in
the entire model to be refined. Saint-Venant’s Principle enforces that the local stresses
in one region do not affect the stresses elsewhere. Hence, from a physical point of
view, the model can be refined only in particular regions of interest and further have a
transition zone from a coarse to a fine mesh. There are two types of refinements (h-
and p-refinement), as shown in Fig. 02. H-refinement relates to the reduction in the
element sizes, while p-refinement relates to increasing the order of the element.
However, it is important to distinguish between the geometric effect and mesh
convergence. Particularly when meshing a curved surface using straight (or linear)
elements, which will require more elements (or otherwise mesh refinement) to capture
the boundary exactly. As shown in Fig. 03, mesh refinement leads to a significant
reduction in errors.

Fig. 03: Reduction in error with h-refinement of the curved surface

Such a refinement can allow an increase in the convergence of solutions without

increasing the size of the overall problem being solved.

FEA Convergence in Presence of Singularities

After reading the above section, it feels safe to assume that once the stress converges
in a particular part of the structure, using the same element size elsewhere should lead
to converged solutions. However, this is not a valid assumption.

Most models have corners, both internal and external, where the radius is assumed to
be zero. This is also the case in the presence of cracks. In these instances, the stresses
are theoretically infinite. Now can you guess why airplane windows do not have
corners but are rounded at the edges?
 Fig. 04 Stress singularity

In the presence of the singularity, the mesh needs to be refined around it. However, as
shown in Fig. 04, the more the mesh is refined, the more the stress continues to
increase and tend towards infinity.
Hence, in the presence of fillets, it is generally more reasonable to assume an actual
radius and then refine the region using a sufficient number of elements. For more
details on mesh singularities, we recommend our recent article on the SimScale blog
titled “Mesh Size Influence on Mechanical Stress Concentration”.

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Convergence During Locking
Another commonly encountered nonlinear problem relates to locking—namely, the
volumetric and shear locking effects. Volumetric locking is commonly encountered in
problems related to incompressibility in hyperelasticity and plasticity problems.
Alternatively, shear locking is generally encountered in bending-dominated problems.
For more discussion on volumetric and shear locking, you can refer to our articles on
the SimScale blog: “Modeling Elastomers” and “Meshing in FEM” respectively.
Fig. 05 shows a standard problem in testing incompressible effects. As shown, a small
pipe with internal pressure is considered. Such applications are commonly found in
various environments, including human arteries. Only a quarter of the model needs to
be considered due to the symmetry in the problem. As the Poisson ratio tends to 0.5,
the bulk modulus tends toward infinity, and thus the material demonstrates
incompressibility. In this instance, second-order elements are preferred or, in other
words, a p-refinement is required. The figure also illustrates the behavior of different
element types with an increase in the Poisson ratio.

Fig. 05: Standard problem with internal pressure being considered for testing volumetric locking
(up) and convergence in volumetric locking problems
Similarly, Fig. 06 shows a simple beam-bending problem where a moment is being
applied on the free end. The deflection at the free end of the beam is considered, and
this problem even has an analytical solution for comparison. Fig. 06 shows the
convergence of the deflection for different kinds of elements.

Fig. 06: Shear locking in a beam-bending problem and convergence for different elements

FEA CONVERGENCE
How to Measure Convergence
So now that the importance of convergence has been discussed, how can it be
measured? What is a quantitative measure for convergence? One way to measure it
would be to compare with analytical solutions or experimental results.

Fig. 07: Definition of errors

As shown in Fig. 07, several errors can be defined for displacement, strains, and
stresses. These errors could be used for comparison, and they would need to reduce
with mesh refinement. However, in a FEM mesh, the quantities are calculated at
various points (nodal and Gauss). In this case, where and at how many points should
the error be calculated?

Fig. 08: Error norm and comparison with the element size
Alternatively, norms are defined such that the averaged errors over the entire structure
or part of the structure can be calculated. As shown in Fig. 08, the error norms can
also be compared to the size of the element. Here “c” is a constant of proportionality,
while “h” is the element size, as defined in Fig. 08. Hence, several errors such
as L2 and energy error norms can be defined as below:
However, in real practical applications, a non-dimensional version of the same is more
useful to assess the actual degree of error. Therefore, in this instance, the root-mean-
square value of the norms, as defined below, is used to plot the reduction in error.

The final topic is related to the rates at which these errors ideally decrease. If we are
using linear or quadratic or cubic elements, how does one judge whether the error is
decreasing at the right speed or the quality of the algorithms coded? As shown in Fig.
09, the L2-norm error decreases at the rate of p+1 and energy-norm at the rate of p.
Fig. 09: Convergence rates for different error norms in finite element analysis