12/15/2016 Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirements:Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirementsforafiniteelementanalysis

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Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirements

SATURDAY,AUGUST25,2012 BLOGARCHIVE
2012(1)
Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirementsforafiniteelement August(1)
analysis Ontheshapefunctionsandtheir
requirementsfor...
Ontheshapefunconsandtheirrequirementsforaniteelementanalysis

1.Introduction: ABOUTME
AjayTaneja
Thiswriteupprovidesaninsightintothemeaningofshapefunctionsandtheirrequirementsfora
Justanormalhumanbeing,
goingthroughthemotionsof
physicallyadmissiblesolution.
life,ImustaddthoughI'mso
simplethatI'mcomplicated!
Section2discussesindetailthedefinitionofshapefunctionsandsection3givesthederivationof
Viewmycompleteprofile
shapefunctionsforaC0andC1continuouslineartrussandflexuralelement.

2.Whatareshapefunctions?
LetusconsideratwodimensionaldomainasshownintheFigure1.Wehaveatriangularfinite

elementindicatedinthedomain.

Figure 1: Triangular finite element represented in the domain

Letussay(x,y)isthefieldvariableassociatedwiththedomain.Thetriangularelementindicatedin
thefigurehasonlyexternalnodes.Itmaybenotedthatanodeisspecificpointinthedomainwhere
thevalueofthefieldvariableisexplicitlycomputed.Ifthevalueofthefieldvariableisexplicitly
computedatthenodes,howarethevaluesatotherpointswithinafiniteelementcomputed?The
valuesofthefieldvariablecomputedatthenodesareusedtoapproximatethevaluesatnonnodal
points(thatis,intheelementinterior)byinterpolationofthenonnodalvalues.

Forthethreenodedtriangularelement,thenodesareallattheexteriorandatanyotherpointwithin

theelementthefieldvariableisdescribedbytheapproximaterelation

Where

1,2,3,arethevaluesofthefieldvariablesatthenodesandN1,N2,N3aretheinterpolation
functionsalsoknownasshapefunctionsorblendingfunctions.

Inthefiniteelementanalysisapproach,thenodalvaluesofthefieldvariablesaretreatedas

unknownconstantsthataretobedetermined.Theinterpolationfunctionsaremostoftenpolynomial

formsoftheindependentvariables,derivedtosatisycertainconditionsatthenodes.Themajor

pointtobemadehereisthattheinterpolationfunctionsarepredetermined,knownfunctionsofthe

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independentvariablesandthesefunctionsdescribethevariationofthefieldvariablewithinthe

element.

3.Degreeofcontinuityofshapefunctions
Filedquantityisinterpolatedinapiecewisefashionoveranelement.Thatis,eachinterpolation
pieceisdefinedonlywithinitselement.So,whilecanbeguaranteedtovarysmoothlywithineach
element,thetransitionbetweenelementsmaynotbesmooth.ThesymbolCmisusedtodefinethe
continuityofapiecewisefield.

AfieldisCmcontinuousifitsderivativesuptoandincludingthedegreemareinterelement
continuous.

Thus,inonedimension=xisC0continuousifiscontinuousanditsderivativeisnot,and=
xisC1continuousif=xanditsfirstderivativeiscontinuouswhileitssecondderivativeisnot.

TheCmterminologycanbeappliedtoelementtypes.ThebarelementisC0continuousandthe
beamelementisC1continuous.

3.1C0interpolation:Shapefunctionsofalineartrusselement
LetusconsiderafieldwhichisC0continuous.Thus,thefieldvariableonlyisonlyinterelement
continuouswhereasitsderivativesarenot.

Expressingthevariableintermsofalinearinterpolatingpolynomial,wehave

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3.2C1interpolation:Shapefunctionsofaflexuralelement

Recallingthatthebasicpremiseoffiniteelementformulationistoexpressthecontinuouslyvarying
fieldvariableintermsoffinitenumberofvaluesevaluatedatthenodes,wenotethat,forflexural
elementthefieldvariableofinterestisthetransversedisplacementv(x)oftheneutralsurfaceaway
fromitsstraightundeflectedposition.

Asseeninthefigurebelow,thetransversedisplacementofthebeamissuchthatthevariationof
deflectionalongthelengthisnotadequatelydescribedbythedisplacementsoftheendpointsonly

Asseenfromthefigure2aandb,theendpointscanbeidenticalwhilethedeflectedshapeofthe

twocasesisquitedifferent.Therefore,theflexuralelementformulationshouldtakeintoaccountthe

slopeofthebeamaswellastheendpointdisplacement.Inadditiontoavoidingthepotential

ambiguityofdisplacements,inclusionofbeamelementnodalrotationsensurescompatibilityof

rotationsatnodalconnectionsbetweentheelements,thisprecludingthephysicalunacceptable

discontinuitydepictedinfigure2c).

Inlightoftheseobservationsregardingrotations,thenodalvariablestobeassociatedwithflexural

elementaredepictedasshowninFigure3below.Thenodalvariablesaredenotedinpositive

directionanditistobenotedthattheslopesaretobespecifiedinradians.

Figure 4: Flexural element nodal variables shown in positive sense.

Thedisplacementfunctionistobediscretisedsuchthat

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12/15/2016 Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirements:Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirementsforafiniteelementanalysis

Equation16

subjecttotheboundaryconditions

Consideringthefourboundaryconditions,weassumethedisplacementfunctionas

Thechoiceofacubicfunctiontodescribethedisplacementisnotarbitrarybecause

i.Withthespecificationoffourboundaryconditions,wecandeterminenotmorethanfour

constantsintheassumeddisplacementfunction

ii.Consideringthedifferentialequation

Equation19

Weseethat,sincetheloadsareappliedonlyatthenodes,thesecondderivativeofthe

displacementfunctionislinear,hencethebendingmomentvarieslinearlyalongthelength

oftheelement.

ApplicationoftheboundaryconditiontoEq17yieldsthefollowing

SolvingEquation20simultaneouslygives

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12/15/2016 Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirements:Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirementsforafiniteelementanalysis

N1,N2,N3,N4areinterpolationfunctionswhichdescribethedistributionofdisplacementintermsof

nodalvaluesinthenodaldisplacementvector{}

4.Requirementsofshapefunctions

4.1Solutionaccuracy:

Infiniteelementsanalysis,thesolutionaccuracyisjudgedintermsofconvergenceasthe

elementmeshisrefined.Therearetwomajormethodsofmeshrefinement:

i.hrefinement

ii.prefinement

Inthehrefinement,meshrefinementreferstotheprocessof
increasingthenumberofelementsusedtomodelagivendomain,
consequentlyreducingtheindividualelementsize.

Inprefinement,theelementsizeisunchangedbuttheorderofpolynomialsusedasinterpolation

functionsisincreased.Theobjectiveofmeshrefinementineithermethodistoobtainsequential

solutionsthatexhibitasymptoticconvergencetothevaluerepresentingtheexactsolution.

AnexampleillustratingregularhrefinementaswellassolutionconvergenceisshownintheFigure

5below,whichdepictsaregularelasticplateofuniformthicknessfixedononeedgeandsubjected

toaconcentratedloadononecorner:

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Theproblemismodelledusingrectangularplanestresselementsandthreemeshesareusedin
sequenceFigure6.1b6.1d.SolutionconvergenceisdepictedinFigure6.1eintermsofmaximal
normalstressinthexdirection.Forthisproblem,theexactsolutionistakenintermsofmaximal
normalstressinxdirection.Forthisproblem,theexactsolutionistakentobethemaxiamalnormal
bendingstresscomputedusingelementalbeamtheory.Thetrueexactsolutionistheplanestress
solutionistheplanestresssolutionfromthetheoryofelasticity.

Forageneralfieldproblem,thefieldvariableisexpressedonanelementbasisinthediscretised

form:
WhereMisthenumberofelementdegreesoffreedom,theinterpolationfunctionsmustsatisfytwo
primaryconditionstoensureconvergenceduringmeshrefinement:thecompatibilityand
completenessrequirementsdiscussedasbelow.

4.2Compatibilityrequirement

Alongelementboundaries,thefieldvariableanditspartialderivativesuptooneorderlessthanthe
highestorderderivativeappearingintheintegralformulationoftheelementequationsmustbe
continuous.Giventhediscretisedrepresentationofequation6.1,itfollowsthattheinterpolation
functionsmustmeetthiscondition,sincethesefunctionsdeterminethespatialvariationofthefield
variable.
Consideringtheformulationoftrusselements,thedisplacementsmustbecontinuousacrosselement
boundariesbutnoneofthedisplacementderivativesisrequiredtobecontinuousacrosssuch
boundaries.Indeed,thetrusselementisaconstantstrainelementsothefirstorderderivativeis,in
general,discontinuousattheboundaries.

Similarly,thebeamelementincludeshesecondderivativeofdisplacementandcompatibility

requirescontinuityofboththedisplacementandtheslope(firstderivative)attheelement

boundaries.

Physicalmeaningofcompatibilityrequirements
Inadditiontosatisfyingthecriteriaofconvergence,thecompatibilityrequirementsgiveaphysical
meaningtotheproblemaswell.Instructuralengineeringproblems,therequirementofdisplacement
continuityalongtheelementboundariesensuresthatnogapsorvoidsdevelopinthestructureasa
resultofmodellingprocedure.
Similarly,therequirementofslopecontinuityforthebeamelementensuresthatnokinksare
developedinthedeformedstructure.
Inheattransferproblems,thecompatibilityrequirementpreventsthephysicallyunacceptable
possibilityofjumpdiscontinuityintemperaturedistribution.

4.3Completenessrequirement

Inthelimitaselementsizeshrinkstozerointhemeshrefinement,thefieldvariableanditspartial
derivativesuptoandincluding,thehighestorderderivativeappearingintheintegralformulationmust
becapableofassumingconstantvalues.Again,becauseofdiscretisation,thecompleteness
requirementisdirectlyapplicabletointerpolationfunctions.

Thecompletenessrequirementensuresthatadisplacementfieldwithinastructuralelementcan

takeonaconstantvalue(constantvalueswithinthatelementbutnotoverall),representingarigid

bodymotionforexample.Similarly,constantslopeforabeamelementrepresentsarigidbody

rotationforexamplewhileastateofconstanttemperatureinthermalelementcorrespondstono

heatfluxthroughtheelement.

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12/15/2016 Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirements:Ontheshapefunctionsandtheirrequirementsforafiniteelementanalysis
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