A study on finite elements for capturing strong discontinuities

Abstract

Abstract The work focuses on the presently existing families of finite elements with embedded discontinuities and explores the possibilities of obtaining symmetric statically consistent finite elements that alleviate the stress‐locking problem. For this purpose, mixed (reduced integration) and assumed enhanced strain techniques are applied to the basic symmetric four‐noded element. Numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed measures. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.