MECH3300 Finite Element Methods

Lecture 5 Formulation of approximate stiffness matrices

Planar elasticity problems
Meshing 2D problems
 Strain energy in plane stress
Recall that we can estimate the stiffness of a structural finite element by
expressing its strain energy in terms of its nodal displacements.

For uniaxial stress, strain energy per volume is 2, the area under an
elastic stress-strain curve.

For plane stress in the xy plane, stresses are x ,y and xy only.

The strain energy per volume is V = 1/2 (xx + yy + xyxy) or

x
1
V strains


1 T
Writing stresses and 2 x as vectors
y is
xy a notation
y 2 of convenience - they do
not behave as vectors. xy
 Elastic stress-strain relations
For any linear elastic problem we can write a set of linear
equations relating stress to strain. The equations change with
the type of problem (eg plane stress, plane strain, solid etc.)

For plane stress, writing stress in terms of strain leads to a

elasticity matrix [D], where E is Youngs modulus and is
Poissons ratio.
x 1 0 x
E

y 1 2 1 0
[D]or y
xy 0 0 (1 ) / 2 xy

[D] changes with the analysis type

eg for a solid element [D] is 6 by 6, as there are 3 direct strains
and three shear strains at some location in a solid element.
 Strain energy in terms of strain
Combining the stress-strain relation with the expression for
strain energy and integrating over an element, we get

V 1
2 dV
T 1
2 D dV
T 1 T
2 D tdA

t is element thickness, and A its area. To evaluate this integral, we

need strains expressed in terms of nodal displacements - this is
done with the interpolation functions.
Now, recall for the linear interpolation triangle that x-displacement
anywhere in the element is u(x,y) = N1(x,y) u1 + N2(x,y) u2 + N3(x,y) u3

u N1 N N
x u1 2 u2 3 u3
The x-strain is x x x x
There are similar expressions for y-strain and shear strain.
Collectively the strains, written in a column vector, are = B u, the
terms of the matrix B being either zero or derivatives of interpolation
functions like those above.
 Strain energy of an element and its
stiffness matrix
The transpose of = B u is T = uTBT
Substituting in V 1 T D tdA
2

gives V 1
2 u T
B T
DB tdA u 1 uT K e u
2

Hence the element stiffness matrix can be written as

K e BT DB tdA
This integral is normally found numerically, as a weighted sum of
the integrand evaluated at integration points (called Gauss points)
within the element. The terms of B are constant for the 3 node
triangle, but are in general functions of position. The number of
rows of B varies with the number of strain components that are
relevant. The number of columns of B depends on the number of
nodal degrees of freedom that the element has.
Common types of 2D elasticity problems
Most packages given the user the choice of plane stress, plane
strain or axisymmetric analysis with 2D planar elasticity
elements.
Plane stress occurs on an free surface or in a thin plate loaded
in-plane.
A plane stress analysis can also be used to analyze a detail like
a stress concentration.
One example is a plate containing a regular grid of holes. We
do not wish to model all the holes, as that would require a very
fine mesh. An alternative is to mesh a small region of plate
containing one hole with plane stress elements and estimate
effective values of E and from its deformation under load.

Question: how to load and

restrain this?
 Plane strain problems
Plane strain strictly refers to no movement at all in the 3rd
dimension. This is an ideal which is approached in certain
cases, where Poissons ratio effects tend to be prevented.

A classic example is the tip of a crack in a thick plate. The

surrounding material away from the crack tip is less stressed and
resists the large Poisson ratio contraction that would otherwise
occur in the direction along the crack tip, due to the high
stresses at the crack tip. Hence a situation of plane strain
develops at the crack tip, except at the ends.
Contraction prevented
Mesh in this direction
(portion)

Load
Plane strain is often assumed when modelling a typical cross-section
through something long in the 3rd dimension.
 Axisymmetric problems
The most common type of 2D problem - model a half-section
containing the axis, with each element representing a complete
ring of material.
If the loading is radial and axial only, and does not vary with
angle circumferentially (eg inertia of a spinning disk), then the
deformation is in the plane modeled.
z

Packages
usually
assume that
x = radius

Region modeled Actual object

 Stresses and strains in planar elasticity
For plane stress, there are in-plane stresses x y xyonly. There
is out-of-plane direct strain z

For plane strain there is no out-of-plane strain, but there is out-

of-plane stress z

In an axisymmetric problem, there is out-of-plane stress and

strain called hoop stress and strain.

Hoop strain = change in circumference/circumference = r/r

Hence there is no rigid body displacement radially, and rigid

body motion can be prevented by stopping an axial
displacement.
 Combined stresses
While the state of stress at a point is represented by 3 principal
stresses, these can also be combined to get other measures of
stress.
For isotropic materials, 2 stresses to compare to yield are
commonly used

Tresca stress - the diameter of the largest of 3 Mohrs circles or

twice the maximum shear stress in a principal plane.

Tr
Von Mises stress - a value proportional to the square root of
energy of distortion, that part of strain energy causing change of
shape, as opposed to volume change.

For plane stress VM 12 22 1 2

 Compatibility in meshing
Compatibility means that things fit together when deformed.

With finite elements this means displacements agree between

neighbouring elements, not only at the nodes, but all along
common edges in 2D or all over common surfaces in 3D.

This means that one element can only join one other element,
not 2 to 1 or 3 to 1.

This node is not

connected to the top
element, as it has no
mid-side node.
Hence it can move up
and down This is incompatible.
independently and we
have a model of a
crack.
 Transition meshes
To change mesh refinement between two regular grids,
transition meshes are needed. eg

Packages permit the user to replace

an element with grading subdivisions
like these.
 Element distortion and the patch test
Distorted elements are less accurate,especially as 2 sides come
close to being parallel. In automatic meshing, a tolerance is set
on element distortion.

A test of how well elements cope with distortion is the patch test.
A group of distorted elements are loaded in a way that should
produce uniform stress, and the actual stress in the elements is
examined to see if it is uniform. eg
P P
 Interpolation in natural coordinates
Interpolation over a quadrilateral or hexahedral element can be described most neatly using
non-Cartesian axes that bisect the sides of the element.
In 2D, coordinates r and s that range from -1 to 1 across the element are used.

s
1
2
1 r
1
-1
Interpolation of x-displacement is
u = 1/4 (1+r)(1+s) u1 +1/4(1-r)(1+s) u2 + 1/4 (1-r)(1-s) 4
u3 + 1/4 (1+r)(1-s) u4
-1
ie u = u1 at r = s = 1 etc
3
Limits to distortion of quadrilateral elements
Strains found in r, s coordinates need to be transformed to give
strains in global x, y coordinates when estimating strain energy
and hence stiffness.

This transformation can fail if 2 element sides are parallel or if a

corner angle exceeds 90 degrees.

Unacceptable quadrilateral elements

 Interpolation on a triangle
The neatest way to write the interpolation functions for a triangular
2D element is to make them functions of area coordinates.
An area coordinate is the fraction of the area occupied by a
subtriangle, with its apex at the point of interest.

3 A1 S1= A1/A S2 = A2/A S3 = A3/A

A2
As S1 + S2 + S3 = 1 only 2 of these are
independent coordinates.
1
For a 3 node Atriangle, the 2 interpolation of x-displacement is simply
3
u = S 1 u 1 + S2 u 2 + S3 u3

Note at node 1, S1 = 1. At node 2 or 3, S1 = 0 so it works as an

interpolation function.