Chapter 7:

Chapter 7 Practical
Considerations in Modeling:
with examples from other
chapters

ME 501 chapter 7 1
 Key considerations when
generating a FE model
 Number of elements being used in the mesh
 Referred to as mesh density
 The type of element
 1-D or 2-D (with and w/o bending), 3-D
 Plane assumption vs. shell assumption (chapt 12)
 Linear or some higher order displacement function
 What is the quality of the mesh
 This has a significant effect on the solution (crashing)
 Classic question:
 Use many simple elements or few complex element
ME 501 chapter 7 2
© 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Figure 7-1a (a) Beam with

loading: effects of the aspect
ratio (AR) illustrated by the
five cases with different
aspect ratios

May not have effect in a

Constant strain field, such
as axial load

ME 501 chapter 7 3
 © 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

--Using Element from 10.2 in Logan,

a LINEAR strain rectangular
element
--Other formulations are
probably LESS sensitive

Figure 7-1b (b) Inaccuracy of solution as a function of the aspect

ratio (numbers in parentheses correspond to the cases listed in
Table 7-1)
ME 501 chapter 7 4
 © 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Always try to avoid generating a mesh with too many elements that
have these characteristics. You can get away with a few.

Figure 7-2 Elements with poor shapes

ME 501 chapter 7 5
 Transition triangle
used to go from
fine to coarse

© 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Figure 7-4 Use of symmetry applied to a uniaxially loaded

member with a fillet
ME 501 chapter 7 6
Rather than using “transition triangles”, you can also use quads
when you transition from a fine mesh to a coarse mesh.

You can also

use a 3:1 ratio

ME 501 chapter 7 7
© 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Figure 7-5 Problem reduction

using axes of symmetry applied
to a plate with a hole subjected
to tensile force

If you choose to solve the full

problem, make sure you apply
appropriate BCs to eliminate
rigid body motion.

ME 501 chapter 7 8
Sharp Corners or
Discontinuities
 If they exist, local yielding will occur
 Linear FEM will not calculate infinite stress
 Use realistic radius in design and FEM
model
 Or account for yielding (plasticity model)

ME 501 chapter 7 9
Concentrated forces and solid
elements
 Per linear theory of elasticity, Point load
gives infinite stress & displacement
 Actual material would yield, redistribute
force
 In finite elements, displacement function
does not allow infinite displacement or
stress (approaches with very fine mesh)

ME 501 chapter 7 10
© 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

If you actually decide to model

a point force, you need to resolve
the mesh in that region in order
to capture the stress and strain
gradient.

Figure 7-6 Natural subdivisions

at discontinuities, i.e., where to
put element edges.

Resolve the mesh

near corners.

Use elements to
distribute load.

ME 501 chapter 7 11
Concentrated Forces in Solids
 Either ignore locally high stresses
 i.e., don’t use stress right at force location
 Or, input a more realistic loading
distribution (non-uniform pressure)
 Hertzian contact stress distribution

ME 501 chapter 7 12
 © 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Figure 7-17 (a) Connecting rod subjected to tensile loading and (b)
principal stress throughout the rod
ME 501 chapter 7 13
Mesh Refinement
 h-Method
 Keep element formulation the same
 Refine by creating more elements
 Evaluate error

 p-method
 Keep mesh the same
 Use increasingly higher polynomials for shape
function
 Evaluate error
ME 501 chapter 7 14
 This gives more
refined solution
inside the element

ME 501 chapter 7 15
Element Selection
 Personal Preference
 Sometimes depends on industry
 Type of System
 What are the physics being modeled
 Solids, fluids, heat transfer
 FE program Emphasis
 The program Continuity (cardiac modeling)
only uses cubic hermite elements
ME 501 chapter 7 16
CST
 Generally too stiff in bending
 Requires too many elements to resolve
 Higher-order element is needed
 Approach 1 – More external nodes
 higher order means more DOF
 Approach 2 – Use 4 node quad elements
 These can be derived in several ways.
 Isoparametric formulation (Chapt 10)
 Static condensation (Chapt 7)
ME 501 chapter 7 17
 Example: 4 CST 1 Quad

Figure 7-13 Quadrilateral element with an internal node

Assemble quad from 4 CST, then

“condense” out internal DOF (node 5) prior
to assembly of global stiffness matrix

ME 501 chapter 7 18
10 X 10 8X8
1 2 3 4 5
# # # # #  U1xy 
#  U 
 # # # #   2 xy 
  The mathematical details are

# # # # #  U 3 xy  given in Section 7.5. We will

only focus on the isoparametric
   formulation in Chapt 10.

# U
# # # #  4 xy
 
 # # # # #  U 5 xy 

ME 501 chapter 7 19
Additional Elements
8-node PLANE82 in ANSYS
(quadratic)

Lin-quad
LST
Linear Strain
Triangle
cubic

ME 501 chapter 7 20
 Quick look at shell elements
(chapter 12 – plate bending elements)

The key difference between plane

elements and shell elements is the ability
to model transverse loads that create
bending, and rotational DOF’s

ME 501 chapter 7 21
Shells – very useful for projects

ME 501 chapter 7 22
The same principle holds for 3-D solid elements and shell elements.
8-node hex (brick) elements only solve for displacments, whereas
4-node shell elements solve for displacement and rotation.

7-23
Stresses in Solid Elements
 Depend on element shape function
 Linear stress = const
 Quadratic stress = linear

 In general, Less accurate than

displacements

ME 501 chapter 7 24
Element vs. Nodal
CST  A B 
   BC 
 2   
B  2 

A C

 A D 
D CD
   
Calculate stress at  2   2 
center of element

 A B C  D 
 
 2 

ME 501 chapter 7 25
More Complex Elements

  f ( x, y ) (not constant)

 Not continuous across element boundaries

 Still need contour plots

ME 501 chapter 7 26
Typical Approach

 Within each element, calculate stress at

nxn matrix of loc’ns (gauss or
integration points – chapter 10)
 Curve fit to extrapolate stress to nodes
(SX, SY, SXY)
 Average stress at common nodes

ME 501 chapter 7 27
Draw Contour Plots
10
50
. . . These are usually isobars,
that represent lines of constant
value. So, the values should

. . . 90
scale in between these lines

. . .
ME 501 chapter 7 28
Typically average component
Stresses (SX, SY, SXY),
then compute principal stresses
SIG1,SIG2,SIG3  1   2   3
SIGE  Distortion Energy
SI  2* max  stress intensity
Use for design calcs – theory of yielding
Theory of failure

ME 501 chapter 7 29
 © 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Note the local

mesh refinement
near the hole,
where stresses
are expected to
be high.

Figure 7-7 Plate of steel (20 in. long, 20 in. wide,l in. thick, and
with a l-in.-radius hole) discretized using a preprocessor program
[15] with automatic mesh generation
ME 501 chapter 7 30
© 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Figure 7-9 Maximum

principal stress contour
plot for a plate with a hole
(original plot is in color).
Largest principal stresses
of 301 psi occur at the top
and the bottom of the hole,
which indicated a stress
concentration of 3. Stresses
were obtained by using an
average of the nodal values
(called smoothing)

ME 501 chapter 7 31
Verification of Elements/Results
 Run a “patch test” to ensure the element
satisfies our standard requirements
 Comparison to handbook solution
 Create coarse model and refine mesh for
convergence check
 Thisis a typical requirement when publishing
results from an FE study

ME 501 chapter 7 32
 © 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Incompatible element

Figure 7-11 Convergence of a finite element solution based on the

compatible displacement formulation

ME 501 chapter 7 33
© 2002 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Figure 7-16 Flowchart

of plane/strain finite
element process

ME 501 chapter 7 34
Subtle Boundary Condition Effects
UX1 = UX2 = 0 UY1 = UY2 = 0
3002
-5000
2
Reactions

1
-5000
Load
-3002
10000 lb
total

ME 501 chapter 7 35
Another option
UX1 = UX2 = 0 UY1 = 0
0
-5000
2

Reactions

1
-5000
Load
0
10000 lb
total

ME 501 chapter 7 36
Solid Elements (some
examples)
 SOLID45
 3D Solid element, linear with extra modes
 8 node E,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P
 Other shape options
 SOLID95
 20 node element with mid side nodes, quadratic
 Other shape options
 Solid 92 Tetrahedron
 quadratic

ME 501 chapter 7 37
Thermal Elements
 Thermal55 Solid 2D
 Thermal34 Radiation
 Thermal70 3D Solid
 KXX conductivity
 C thermal capacity
 DENS Density

ME 501 chapter 7 38