Axisymmetric Solid Elements

The Axisymmetric Solid Elements incorporated in the Finite Element Library of the MIDAS Family
Programs are the 3-node triangular and 4-node quadrilateral elements shown in Fig. 1. The finite element
formulation of both element types is based on the isoparametric procedure (the element geometry and
displacements are interpolated in the same way).

η
Z
w3
3
u3

w2
w1 ξ
2 u2
1 u1

w4 η
w1

u4 4 3 u1

ξ
1 2
u1 w1 u2
w2

X(r)

Figure 1 Axisymmetric Solid Finite Elements

The nodal degrees of freedom (DOF’s) are illustrated in Fig. 1. The element geometry and displacement
field are defined in terms of nodal coordinated and DOF’s by the following functions:
 n
 n



r = ∑
i =1
fi (ξ ,η ) ri 

u = ∑
i =1
f i (ξ ,η ) ui
 n  n
⇒ u = fq
z = w =
 ∑
i =1
fi (ξ ,η ) zi
 ∑
i =1
f i (ξ ,η ) wi

where
ri , zi = global r-z coordinates at i − th node
u i , w i = displacements at i − th node along global R, Z− axes, respectively
f i (ξ , η ) = interpolation function related to i − th node and defined in the natural coordinates
variables ξ ,η ( − 1 ≤ ξ ≤ +1 and − 1 ≤ η ≤ +1 )
ξ i ,ηi = natural coordinates of the i − th element node
n = number of nodes in element
The nodal interpolation functions f i (ξ ,η ) are of the following form:

For triangular element

1
 2 (1 + η ) for i = 3
f i (ξ , η ) = 
 1 (1 + ξ ξ ) (1 − η ) for i = 1, 2
 4 i

For quadrilateral element

1
f i (ξ , η ) = (1 + ξiξ ) (1 + ηiη ) for i = 1, 2, 3, 4
4

Then, the strains at any point within element domain are expressed in terms of nodal displacements as,

 ∂u   ∂ 
 ∂r   ∂r 0
 ε r   ∂w   ∂

ε    0
 =  ∂z   ∂z   u 
   ⇒ ε = du = dfq = Bq
z
  =
 εθ  u w
    1 0  
γ rz   r  r 
 ∂u ∂w   ∂ ∂
 +   
 ∂z ∂r   ∂z ∂r 

where
B = strain-displacement matrix
q = vector of nodal displacements
Then, the stress-strain relation become,
σ = Dε = DBq

where, D is the elasticity matrix defining mechanical properties of the material. For a linear isotropic
material D matrix takes the following form:

 1 −ν ν ν 0 
 1 −ν ν 0 
E 
D=  1 −ν 0 
(1 + ν )(1 − 2ν )  
Sym. 1 − 2ν 
 2 
in which
E = Young modulus
ν = Poisson’s ratio
The stiffness matrix and force vectors for a typical isoparametric axisymmetric 2D solid element are
defined by the following integrals:
2π
K = ∫ BT DBdV = ∫ ∫ BT DBrdθ dA = 2π ∫ BT DBrdA
V A 0 A

pb = 2π ∫ f T brd Ω
Ω

p 0 = 2π ∫ BT Dε 0 rd Ω
Ω

where
K = stiffness matrix
V = volume of the element
A = surface area of the element
pb = nodal force vector due to distributed body forces b
p0 = nodal force vector due to initial strain ε0
Ω = range of the integration
The above illustrates the isoparametric formulation procedure for both types of axisymmetric solid
elements. It should be noted that the 3-node element presented here is in fact a degenerated form of the 4-
node quadrilateral element. Formulation of the triangular element by collapsing the quadrilateral element
allows evaluating the above integrals for both element types by use of the same standard numerical
integration procedure, based on the Gauss-Legendre quadrature. Thus the numerical integration formulas
used for Axisymmetric Solid elements are:
n m
K = ∑∑ W jWk BT (ξ j ,ηk ) DB (ξ j ,ηk ) r (ξ j ,ηk ) J (ξ j ,ηk )
k =1 j =1
n m
pb = ∑∑ W jWk f T (ξ j ,ηk ) b (ξ j ,ηk ) r (ξ j ,ηk ) J (ξ j ,ηk )
k =1 j =1
n m
p 0 = ∑∑ W jWk BT (ξ j ,ηk ) Dε 0 (ξ j ,ηk ) r (ξ j ,ηk ) J (ξ j ,ηk )
k =1 j =1

where:
Wi = weighting factor of i -th integration point

ξ i ,η i = natural coordinates of i -th integration point

J (ξ j , η k ) = determinant of the Jacobian matrix
m, n = number of integration points in direction of ξ and η , respectively.
The appropriate order of numerical integration and corresponding locations of integration points used in
the triangular and quadrilateral elements are shown in Table bellow.

Table Gauss-Legendre Integration for Axisymmetric Elements

Integration order Location of integration points

η η
3 4 3
3 4
2×2
3 4
ξ
ξ 1 2
1 2
1 2 1 2

η η
3 4 3
8
8 7 9
3×3
7 9 4 5 6
4 5 6
ξ ξ
1 2 3 1 2 3
1 2 1 2