A uniform strain hexahedron and quadrilateral with orthogonal hourglass control

Abstract

Abstract The treatment of zero energy modes which arise due to one‐point integration of first‐order isoparametric finite elements is addressed. A method for precisely isolating these modes for arbitrary geometry is developed. Two hourglass control schemes, viscous and elastic, are presented and examined. In addition, a convenient one‐point integration scheme which analytically integrates the element volume and uniform strain modes is presented.