FINITE ELEMENT PROGRAMS USING THE CONCEPT OF GENERALISED MODULUS AND GENERALISED STRESSES FOR PC

Abstract

Current advances in microcomputer technology their existence and easy availability gave encouragement to develop an integrated single system of PC based FE software named PS PS AS solving problems of plane stress, plane strain and axisymmetric cases idealised with linear, quadratic and cubic elements. The software is a conglomeration of three phases of FEA brought into a user-friendly, menu-driven, integrated environment that runs on IBM PC XT/AT series in MS-DOS. Pre and Post processors offers graphics modules to assist the verification of digital description of the modelled structure and the interpretation of the analysis results. Postprocessor can produce meshes,deformed shape, stress vectors and stress contours. Preprocessor has the capability of automatic generation of FE meshes using Linear, Quadratic & Cubic quadrilaterals in regular & irregular meshes containing mesh grading facility of two families, The Serendipity and The Lagrangian and the meshes can accommodate any type of joints and interface elements. The concept of Generalised Modulus and Generalised Stresses has been used as an alternative technique for computing element stiffness and residuals for economical organisation of finite element routines in this elastic analysis of plane stress plane strain and axisymmetric problems. Some explicit formulations have been illustrated on Generalised modulus, interms of geometrical and material properties explains the effect of aspect ratio in stiffness formulations.