Modified h-method with directional error estimate for finite element stress analysis

• Published in: Computers & structures Vol. 65; no. 2; pp. 191 - 204
• Main Authors: Oh, H.S., Lim, J.K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.1997
• ISSN: 0045-7949; 1879-2243
• DOI: 10.1016/S0045-7949(96)00313-6

An effective directional error estimator, based on Zienkiewicz-Zhu's error estimate, is presented for the h-method of the adaptive finite element analysis. The estimator allows Zienkiewicz-Zhu's error to be effectively separated into directional components in the global coordinate system and can be easily combined with existing h-refinement algorithms. A modified h-method, where a selective refinement algorithm is adopted with the directional error estimator, is thus proposed in order to improve the performance of h-refinement. Through various numerical tests for three kinds of isoparametric elements such as four-node plane, eight-node brick and four-node shell elements, the suggested algorithm shows the remarkable validity and cost-effective characteristics in adaptive mesh refinement.