A new polyhedral element for the analysis of hexahedral-dominant finite element models and its application to nonlinear solid mechanics problems

Son Nguyen-Hoang, Dongwoo Sohn, Hyun Gyu Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

A hexahedral-dominant finite element mesh can be easily constructed by cutting regular hexahedral elements in a simple block with CAD surfaces representing outer surfaces of a geometric model. Polyhedral elements with straight edges but possibly non-planar faces are generated at the domain boundaries, while regular hexahedral elements remain in the interior region. Shape functions for polyhedral elements are derived from moving least square approximation based on a tetrahedral subdivision of polyhedral domains by a centroid-based subdivision technique. The polyhedral shape functions in this study have similar properties to conventional finite element shape functions in terms of continuity and completeness within elements, compatibility across inter-element boundaries and the Kronecker-delta property. Furthermore, the present approach using hexahedral-dominant meshes with polyhedral elements at domain boundaries is successfully applied to solve large deformation problems of hyperelastic and elastic–plastic materials.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)248-277
Number of pages30
JournalComputer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
Volume324
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2017

Keywords

  • Hyperelastic materials
  • Large deformations
  • Moving least square approximation
  • Polyhedral elements
  • Trimmed hexahedral elements

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