Control of zero-energy modes in 9-node plane element

For plane stress/plane strain analysis, the 9-node quadrilateral element performs better than the corresponding 8-node element, especially for non-rectangular shapes. For improved element flexibility and lower computer cost, 2 × 2 quadrature is generally preferable to 3 × 3 quadrature. Unfortunately the 9-node element contains spurious zero-energy modes when under-integrated. A method is proposed to restrain these modes without significant loss of accuracy or added cost.     

A finite element investigation of quasi-static and dynamic asymptotic crack-tip fields in hardening elastic-plastic solids under plane stress

The asymptotic structures of crack-tip stress and deformation fields are investigated numerically for quasi-static and dynamic crack growth in isotropic linear hardening elastic-plastic solids under mode I, plane stress, and small-scale yielding conditions. An Eulerian type finite element scheme is employed. The materials are assumed to obey the von Mises yield criterion and the associated flow rule. The ratio of the crack-tip plastic zone size to that of the element nearest to the crack tip is of the order of 1.6 × 10⁴. The results of this study strongly suggest the existence of crack-tip stress and strain singularities of the type r ^s (s < 0) at r=0, where r is the distance to the crack tip, which confirms the asymptotic solutions of variable-separable type by Amazigo and Hutchinson [1] and Ponte Castañeda [2] for quasi-static crack growth, and by Achenbach, Kanninen and Popelar [3] for dynamic crack propagation. Both the values of the parameter s and the angular stress and velocity field variations from the present full-field finite element analysis agree very well with those from the analytical solutions. It is found that the dominance zone of the r ^s-singularity is quite large compared to the size of the crack-tip active plastic zone. The effects of hardening and inertia on the crack-tip fields as well as on the shape and size of the crack-tip active plastic zone are also studied in detail. It is discovered that as the level of hardening decreases and the crack propagation speed increases, a secondary yield zone emerges along the crack flank, and kinks in stress and velocity angular variations begin to develop. This dynamic phenomenon observable only for rapid crack growth and for low hardening materials may explain the numerical difficulties, in obtaining solutions for such cases, encountered by Achenbach et al. who, in their asymptotic analysis, neglected the existence of reverse yielding zones along the crack surfaces.     

A robust,four-node,quadrilateral element for stress analysis of functionally graded plates through higher-order theories

ABSTRACT

A hybrid-mixed, four-node, quadrilateral element for the three-dimensional (3D) stress analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates using the method of sampling surfaces (SaS) is developed. The SaS formulation is based on choosing an inside the plate body N, not equally spaced SaS parallel to the middle surface, in order to introduce the displacements of these surfaces as basic plate variables. Such a choice of unknowns, with the consequent use of Lagrange polynomials of the degree N ? 1 in the assumed distributions of displacements, strains, and mechanical properties through the thickness leads to a robust FG plate formulation. All SaS are located at Chebyshev polynomial nodes that permit one to minimize uniformly the error due to the Lagrange interpolation. To avoid shear locking and spurious zero-energy modes, the assumed natural strain method is employed. The proposed four-node quadrilateral element passes 3D patch tests for FG plates and exhibits a superior performance in the case of coarse distorted meshes. It can be useful for the 3D stress analysis of thin and thick metal/ceramic plates because the SaS formulation gives an opportunity to obtain the solutions with a prescribed accuracy, which asymptotically approach the 3D exact solutions of elasticity as the number of SaS tends to infinity.     

An efficient quadrilateral element for plate bending analysis

A simple, shear flexible, quadrilateral plate element is developed based on the Hellinger/Reissner mixed variational principle with independently assumed displacement and stress fields. The crucial point of the selection of appropriate stress parameters is emphasized in the formulation. For this purpose, a set of guidelines is formulated based on the following considerations: (i) suppression of all kinematic deformation modes, (ii) the element has a favourable value for the constraint index in the thin plate limit, (iii) element properties are frame-invariant. For computer implementation the components of the element stiffness matrix are evaluated analytically using the symbolic manipulation package MACSYMA. The effectiveness and practical usefulness of the proposed element are demonstrated by the numerical results of a variety of problems involving thin and moderately thick plates under different loading and support conditions.     

On the suppression of zero energy deformation modes

Based on the Hellinger-Reissner principle and the deformation energy due to assumed stresses and displacements, the problem of the kinematic deformation modes in assumed stress hybrid/mixed finite elements has been examined. Basic schemes are developed for the choice of assumed stress terms that will suppress all kinematic deformation modes. Quadrilateral membrane and axisymmetric elements, and three-dimensional hexahedral elements, are used to illustrate the suggested procedure.     

A unified theory for formulation of hybrid stress membrane elements

A theory is proposed in this paper to explain, in a unified manner, the three rational approaches using the incompatible displacements u _λ in the hybrid element formulation. Limited to the plane stress case, the theory suggests that the introduction of u _λ is to constrain the total value of the invariant I₂(= σ_xσ_y – τ) of the assumed stresses over the element to zero. In the plane stress case, this is the well-known condition for the stress distributions to be independent of the elastic constants of the material. The theory proposed is also used to explain the closeness of the performances of the four 4-node hybrid stress membrane elements, 5β-I, 5β-II, 5β-A and 5β-C, that have been developed previously. The differences among them are shown to be of the second degree in the distortion measures of the element shape, when they are compared on the basis of the non-vanishing total value of I₂ of their respectively adopted assumed stress field. Several numerical examples are used to verify and to illustrate the proposed theory.     

A HYBRID STRESS QUADRILATERAL SHELL ELEMENT WITH FULL ROTATIONAL D.O.F.S

A 4-node hybrid stress quadrilateral shell element with 3 rotational d.o.f.s per node is presented. The mid-surface displacement of the element is founded on Allman's rotation. The equal-rotation mode intrinsic to the rotation is suppressed by a stabilization vector. The assumed stress field and the stabilization scalar is chosen such that membrane locking can be avoided. Computational efficiency of the element is improved by employing orthogonal stress modes and admissible matrix formulation. Popular benchmark tests are attempted and the results are found to be satisfactory. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stability analysis of an explicit finite element scheme for plane wave motions in elastic solids

 Expressions for critical timesteps are provided for an explicit finite element method for plane elastodynamic problems in isotropic, linear elastic solids. Both 4-node and 8-node quadrilateral elements are considered. The method involves solving for the eigenvalues directly from the eigenvalue problem at the element level. The characteristic polynomial is of order 8 for 4-node elements and 16 for 8-node elements. Due to the complexity of these equations, direct solution of these polynomials had not been attempted previously. The commonly used critical time-step estimates in the literature were obtained by reducing the characteristic equation for 4-node elements to a second-order equation involving only the normal strain modes of deformation. Furthermore, the results appear to be valid only for lumped-mass 4-node elements. In this paper, the characteristic equations are solved directly for the eigenvalues using <ty>Mathematica<ty> and critical time-step estimates are provided for both lumped and consistent mass matrix formulations. For lumped-mass method, both full and reduced integration are considered. In each case, the natural modes of deformation are obtained and it is shown that when Poisson's ratio is below a certain transition value, either shear-mode or hourglass mode of deformation dominates depending on the formulation. And when Poisson's ratio is above the transition value, in all the cases, the uniform normal strain mode dominates. Consequently, depending on Poisson's ratio the critical time-step also assumes two different expressions. The approach used in this work also has a definite pedagogical merit as the same approach is used in obtaining time-step estimates for simpler problems such as rod and beam elements. Received: 8 January 2002 / Accepted: 12 July 2002 The support of NSF under grant number DMI-9820880 is gratefully acknowledged.     

A triangular hybrid equilibrium plate element of general degree

Hybrid stress‐based finite elements with side displacement fields have been used to generate equilibrium models having the property of equilibrium in a strong form. This paper establishes the static and kinematic characteristics of a flat triangular hybrid equilibrium element with both membrane and plate bending actions of general polynomial degree p. The principal characteristics concern the existence of hyperstatic stress fields and spurious kinematic modes. The former are shown to exist for p>3, and their significance to finite element analysis is reviewed. Knowledge of the latter is crucial to the determination of the stability of a mesh of triangular elements, and to the choice of procedure adopted for the solution of the system of equations. Both types of characteristic are dependent on p, and are established as regards their numbers and general algebraic forms. Graphical illustrations of these forms are included in the paper. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rational approach for assumed stress finite elements

A new method for the formulation of hybrid elements by the Hellinger-Reissner principle is established by expanding the essential terms of the assumed stresses as complete polynomials in the natural coordinates of the element. The equilibrium conditions are imposed in a variational sense through the internal displacements which are also expanded in the natural co-ordinates. The resulting element possesses all the ideal qualities, i.e. it is invariant, it is less sensitive to geometric distortion, it contains a minimum number of stress parameters and it provides accurate stress calculations. For the formulation of a 4-node plane stress element, a small perturbation method is used to determine the equilibrium constraint equations. The element has been proved to be always rank sufficient.     

A quadrilateral hybrid stress element for Mindlin plates based on incompatible displacements

An hybrid stress element formulation based on internal, incompatible displacements is used to develop efficient Mindlin plate elements. The 4-node quadrilateral Mindlin plate element is derived from a modified energy functional. Both displacements and stresses are defined in the natural co-ordinate interpolation system. The assumed stress field is obtained by tensor transformation and so chosen as to ensure that the element is co-ordinate invariant and stable. Shear locking is avoided through an appropriate identification of the internal, incompatible displacement field. The role played by incompatible displacements in the formulation of hybrid stress elements for thin and moderately thick plates is discussed. Numerical applications are presented to illustrate the accuracy and reliability of the suggested Mindlin plate element.     

Geometrically non-linear enhanced strain mixed methods and the method of incompatible modes

A class of ‘assumed strain’ mixed finite element methods for fully non-linear problems in solid mechanics is presented which, when restricted to geometrically linear problems, encompasses the classical method of incompatible modes as a particular case. The method relies crucially on a local multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient into a conforming and an enhanced part, formulated in the context of a three-field variational formulation. The resulting class of mixed methods provides a possible extension to the non-linear regime of well-known incompatible mode formulations. In addition, this class of methods includes non-linear generalizations of recently proposed enhanced strain interpolations for axisymmetric problems which cannot be interpreted as incompatible modes elements. The good performance of the proposed methodology is illustrated in a number of simulations including 2-D, 3-D and axisymmetric finite deformation problems in elasticity and elastoplasticity. Remarkably, these methods appear to be specially well suited for problems involving localization of the deformation, as illustrated in several numerical examples.     

A novel approach for devising higher-order hybrid elements

This paper presents an efficient way to devise higher-order hybrid elements by generalizing the admissible matrix formulation recently proposed by the author. The assumed stress or strain is first decomposed into the constant, lower- and higher-order modes. In the absence of any higher-order modes, the resulting hybrid element would be identical to the corresponding sub-integrated displacement element. By a natural and straightforward method of orthogonalizing the higher-order modes with respect to the constant and lower-order modes, the element stiffness can be partitioned into a lower- and a higher-order matrix. With further refinements, the method devised can readily be applied to a number of higher-order hybrid elements with enhanced finite element consistency and computational efficiency.     

A finite element investigation of quasi-static and dynamic asymptotic crack-tip fields in hardening elastic-plastic solids under plane stress

This is the second half of a two-part finite element investigation of quasi-static and dynamic crack growth in hardening elastic-plastic solids under mode I plane stress, steady state, and small-scale yielding conditions. The hardening materials are assumed to obey the von Mises yield criterion and the associated flow rule, and are characterized by a Ramberg-Osgood type power-law effective stress-strain curve. The asymptotic feature of the crack-tip stress and deformation fields, and the influence of hardening and crack propagation speed on these fields as well as on the size and shape of the crack-tip active plastic zone, are addressed in detail. The results of this study strongly suggest the existence of stress and strain singularities of the type [ln(R _o/r )]^s (s>0) at r=0, where r is the distance to the crack tip and R ₀ is a length scaling parameter, which is consistent with the predictions of asymptotic analyses of variable-separable type by Gao et al. [1–4]. Difficulties in estimating the values of R ₀ and s by fitting the results of the present full-field study to the type of singularities shown above are analyzed, and quantititive differences between the results of this study and those of the asymptotic analyses are discussed. As expected, findings presented here share many similarities with those reported in the first part of this study [5] for crack growth in linear hardening solids. A prominent common feature of crack growth in these two types of hardening materials is that as the level of hardening decreases and the crack propagation speed increases, a secondary yield zone emerges along the crack surface, and kinks in the angular variations of the stress and velocity fields begin to develop near where elastic unloading is taking place.     

A hybrid brick element with rotational degrees of freedom

An 8-node brick element using Allman's displacement interpolation is proposed. The optimal number of 36 stress modes is identified. The six equal-rotation strainless modes which are intrinsic to Allman's interpolation are stabilized by using a penalty method. The penalty also enforces the equality of the nodal rotation and the continuum-defined rotation. To enhance computational efficiency, 39 stress modes are initially assumed, three constraints on the stress field are then imposed. The flexibility matrix is simplified, such that only four symmetric 3 × 3 matrices are required to be inverted. Numerical test results are presented, showing good accuracy.     

Isoparametric hybrid hexahedral elements for three dimensional stress analysis

Based on a new functional in which displacements, strains and stresses are taken as independent variables, a set of three 8-node hexahedral hybrid elements Q_S11-1, Q_S11-2 and Q_S11-3 is developed. The adoption of separated stress and displacement variables proves to be effective in improving the accuracy of the elements. The new elements are all capable of yielding converging results, and they all possess the properties of having no zero energy deformation modes and of being co-ordinate invariant. From the numerical example of a beam under bending it is concluded that exact solutions can be obtained for right prism elements, while good results are still attainable for severely distorted elements. The relationship between the new hybrid elements and the conventional displacement elements is also explored in this paper.     

Partial hybrid stress element for the analysis of thick laminated composite plates

A new element—a partial hybrid stress element—is proposed in this paper for the analysis of thick laminated composite plates. The variational principle of this element can be derived from the Hellinger–Reissner principle through dividing six stress components into a flexural part (σ_x, σ_y, σ_xy, σ_z) and a transverse shear part (τ_xy, τ_yz). The element stiffness matrix can be formulated by assuming a stress field only for transverse shear stresses, while all the others are obtained from an assumed displacement field. Consequently, this new element combines the benefits of the conventional displacement method and the hybrid stress method. A twenty-node hexahedron element is employed in each layer for the displacement field. For the assumed transverse shear stress field, only the traction-free boundary conditions and interface traction continuity are satisfied. The equilibrium equation is enforced by the variational principle. Hence, the complicated work of searching an equilibrating stress field for all the six stress components in the hybrid stress method can be avoided. Furthermore, the interlaminar traction discontinuity, especially transverse shear, encountered by the conventional displacement method and higher-order plate element for laminated plate analysis can also be overcome. Examples are illustrated to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this proposed partial hybrid stress element.     

Singular finite element efficiency in estimating stress intensity factors

Singular finite element displacement functions for linear elastic fracture mechanics applications are investigated. The displacement fields are expressed in terms of polynomials. These polynomials are expanded in varying degrees of r and θ in order to examine the effect of the number and type of terms on the solution to various problems with known solutions. Methods of estimating the stress intensity factors for mode 1 and mode 2 are presented. Numerical results evaluating the effect of various r and θ terms on the solutions are presented.     

An 8-node brick finite element

An 8-node brick element based on the assumed stress hybrid formulation is described. With three additional stress fields, the element stiffness matrix now has the required rank of 18, and the ‘bending’ response is exact with rectangular elements. Surprisingly, the 2 × 2 × 2 Gauss rule suffices for all numerical integrations, to satisfy the constant stress patch test.     

Explicit determination of element stiffness matrices in the hybrid stress method

The hybrid stress method has demonstrated many improvements over conventional displacement-based formulations. A main detraction from the method, however, has been the higher computatational cost in forming element stiffness coefficients due to matrix inversions and manipulations as required by the technique. By utilizing permissible field transformations of initially assumed stresses, a spanning set of orthonormalized stress modes can be generated which simplify the matrix equations and allow explicit expressions for element stiffness coefficients to be derived. The developed methodology is demonstrated using several selected 2-D quadrilateral and 3-D hexahedral elements.