This paper on "Improving Finite Element Methods for Fabricated Structures" was presented at the 5th International Conference on Reliability of Finite Element Methods for Engineering Applications - 10-12 May 1995, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Summary

This paper presents current developments at Westland Helicopters Limited. It explains why error estimators and indicators are elusive and adaptive refinement difficult for fabricated structures such as helicopter airframes. 'Nodal load interpretation' is preferred as a basis for improvements.
A limited future is identified for traditional boom/shear panel methods and the authors describe new 'parent element' post-processing concepts which condense and reformat element output. The new methods are shown to enable efficient use of fully effective elements such as the MSC/NASTRAN CQUAD4 [1].
The paper, illustrated by the results of a prototype post-processor applied to a Lynx helicopter rear fuselage, will particularly interest industries as the parent elements effectively increase element libraries of proprietary finite element codes and promote the analysis of whole physical components - modelled as a mesh of many elements - in single operations.