Cutoff wave numbers for energy-orthogonal six-node triangular plane-strain elements

This paper studies the propagation of plane harmonic waves in unbounded media discretized by the standard six-node triangular finite element. The element stiffness matrix is split into basic and higher order components which are obtained from mean and deviatoric strain fields, respectively. This decomposition is applied to the elastic energy. Based on the properties of the higher order energy, two values of the wave number are selected. Depending on the desired precision one of those values can be used as optimum cutoff wave number to properly capture a wave field.