An adaptive pNh‐technique for global‐local finite element analysis

Abstract

The paper presents a new technique for a compatible transition from a h‐refined to a p‐refined finite element mesh. At one or more faces of particularly designed pNh‐transition elements a low order h‐discretization may be combined with a usual p‐mesh in the other parts of the elements. The pNh‐elements are conform finite elements which can be applied in an adaptive scheme controlled by a residue based error estimate. Typical applications which require strongly a local mesh refinement within a p‐finite element mesh are, e.g. the approximation of high gradients and the determination of contact areas. Numerical examples demonstrate the efficiency of the pNh‐element technique for such problems.

Citation

Weinberg, K. and Gabbert, U. (2002), "An adaptive pNh‐technique for global‐local finite element analysis", Engineering Computations, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 485-500. https://doi.org/10.1108/02644400210435825