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The effect of Poisson's ratio and the far‐field boundary conditions on the accuracy of finite element calculations
Author(s) -
Fama M. E. Duncan
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
international journal for numerical and analytical methods in geomechanics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.419
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1096-9853
pISSN - 0363-9061
DOI - 10.1002/nag.1610130309
Subject(s) - finite element method , boundary value problem , boundary (topology) , boundary knot method , mathematics , mathematical analysis , poisson's ratio , poisson distribution , stress (linguistics) , displacement (psychology) , quadratic equation , geometry , cylinder , rotational symmetry , mixed finite element method , boundary element method , structural engineering , engineering , statistics , psychology , linguistics , philosophy , psychotherapist
Abstract It is shown that a finite element calculation which approximates an ‘infinite medium’; problem by a mesh with finite boundaries will yield greater accuracy when stress boundary conditions are applied on the far‐field boundary than is obtainable with displacement boundary conditions. In particular, with Poisson's ratio close to 0.5, the accuracy of the latter model is severely impaired, whereas the stress boundary condition model is unaffected for Poisson's ratio of 0.49 and a reasonable mesh. The eight‐node quadratic isoparametric element displays superb accuracy for the axisymmetric thick cylinder with either type of boundary condition.