Hybrid equilibrium hexahedral elements and super‐elements

Abstract

Abstract Equilibrated solutions, locally satisfying all the equilibrium conditions, may be obtained by using a special case of the hybrid finite element formulation. Unlike simplicial super‐elements in 2D and 3D, which are free from spurious kinematic modes, and the quadrilateral super‐element with diagonal subdivision, which has exactly one internal spurious kinematic mode, no hexahedral super‐element free of external spurious kinematic modes is yet known as far as the author is aware. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.