This paper on "Adaptive h-p Version Finite Element Technology and its Role in CAD Process Improvement" was presented at the 5th International Conference on Reliability of Finite Element Methods for Engineering Applications - 10-12 May 1995, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Some new techniques and software in adaptive h-p version finite elements were tried out in a production environment; this in order to evaluate their impact on the efficiency, accuracy and reliability of an integrated design-analysis process.
The application experiences have raised some key issues of general interest. The CAD geometry is often different from the idealized F.E.A. geometry: there is a need for the analyst to lump, smooth, modify, simplify. Between a preliminary global loads model and a final local stress model he needs to decide at which scale to work, how to "zoom-in" for additional resolution; even the solution of the analysis problem should be regarded as an iterative convergence process. Finally, the solution accuracy need not be spatially uniform: instead of a few global criteria, the error tolerance should be tailored to the local accuracy of the input data and to what is expected of the output results.
Illustrations are provided, including some structural domains with a mixture of thin shell, thick shell and solid behavior, discontinuities in boundary or constraints. Alternate refinement strategies are investigated.