Properties of the 20‐node brick

Three‐dimensional elastoplastic analyses are increasingly feasible as computing power increases. Candidate finite elements for this work are 20‐node bricks. In elastoplastic situations, yielding creates ‘soft’ regions within a stiffer surrounding matrix and propagation of spurious modes is possible under reduced integration. In this paper, the intrinsic properties of the 20‐node brick are analysed, with a view to avoiding numerical complications in plasticity analyses.