Efficient Linear and Non-Linear Finite Element Formulation using a New Local Enhancement of Displacement Fields for Triangular Elements

This paper describes a new triangular plane element which can be considered as a linear strain triangular element (LST) extended with incompatible displacement modes. The extended element will have a full cubic interpolation of strains and stresses. The extended LST-element is connected with other elements similar to the LST-element i.e. through three corner nodes and three mid-side nodes. The incompatible modes are associated with two displacement gradients at each mid-side node and displacements in the central node. The element passes the patch test and converges to the exact solution.

The element has been tested on a standard linear test such as Cook’s panel, and is shown as expected to be somewhat more flexible than the LST-element and the compatible quadratic strain element (QST). The extended element has also been applied to material non-linear geotechnical problems. Geotechnical problems often show a very slow convergence, and the numerical solutions will in general overestimate the bearing capacity and underestimate the displacements. The examples show that the extended incompatible element behaves much better than the corresponding compatible elements especially for coarse meshes.