Consideration of body forces within finite element analysis

english

2018

volume 64, issue 5

body force   finite element analysis   Gaussian quadrature   numerical integration   weight force

Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za strojništvo
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The finite element analysis (FEA) is an established numerical method for the mechanical analysis of structural components, which cannot be analytically described sufficiently well. Despite ever-increasing computing power, the efficiency enhancement of the calculation methods and their computational implementation is one of the highest development goals in this field. This article shows an efficient method for the calculation of weight forces that is based on a factorization of the volume integral so that the integration is independent of the global node coordinates of the finite element mesh and solely dependent on the shape functions of the element type. The numerical integration can thus be done in advance, and the resultant numerical values can be tabulated in the finite element software. No quadrature needs to be performed during the program runtime. This approach leads to a reduction of the computing effort and time.

17.12.2020