You are on page 1of 9

The figure depicts a tapered elastic bar subjected to an applied tensile load P at one end and attached to a

fixed support at the other end. The cross-sectional area varies linearly from A
0
at the fixed support at x = 0 to
A
0
/2 at x = L.
Calculate the displacement at the end of the bar:
(a) by modelling the bar as a single element having cross-sectional area equal to the area of the actual bar at its
midpoint along the length,
(b) using two bar elements of equal length and similarly evaluating the area at the midpoint of each, and
(c) using integration to obtain the exact solution:








(Hutton 2004)



Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 1
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
u
3
u
2
u
1
=0

u
2
R
A
u
1
=0

P P
R
A
35

(a) In the first case, the area of the single bar element is A
o
. Hence, the equilibrium at the nodes becomes:




In the equation above, A is the reaction of the support assumed to fixed (u
1
=0)

(b) In the second case, we have two elements with areas A
1
=7A
o
/8 and A
2
=5A
o
/8. Both elements have length
L/2. Hence, the two element stiffness matrices are













Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 1
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
o
o o
A
EA
PL
u u
L
EA
P
u L
EA
d k
P
R
P 333 . 1
4
3
0
1 1
1 1
4
3
} { ] [ } {
2 2
2
= =
)
`


= =
)
`

=
(


=
1 1
1 1
4
7
] [
1
L
EA
k
o
(


=
1 1
1 1
4
5
] [
2
L
EA
k
o
Element Stiffness Start End (rad) d(1) d(2)

1 7EA
o
/4L A B 0 u
1
u
2

2 5EA
o
/4L B C 0 u
2
u
3

36
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 1
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
u
1
u
2
u
1

u
2
u
2
u
3
o
o
A
o
EA
PL
u
P u
u
L
EA
P
R
u
u
L
EA
371 . 1
0
4 / 5 4 / 5
4 / 5 3
0
0
4 / 5 4 / 5 0
4 / 5 3 4 / 7
0 4 / 7 4 / 7
3
3
2
3
2
=
)
`

=
)
`

(
(
(



u
1
u
2
u
3

u
1

u
2
u
3
Determination of structure load matrix




] 0 [ } { } { P R P R
A
T T
= =
Element assembly

(


=
1 1
1 1
4
7
] [
1
L
EA
k
o
(


=
1 1
1 1
4
5
] [
2
L
EA
k
o
u
2

u
3
Solve system of equations to obtain u
3




(
(
(



=
4 / 5 4 / 5 0
4 / 5 3 4 / 7
0 4 / 7 4 / 7
] [
L
EA
K
o
37
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 1
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
(c) In the third case, we solve analytically the problem to obtain the exact solution.
Element stress at distance x is determined as:
x =
P
A x
=
P

(1

2
)
(1)
Element strain is defined by Hookes law:
x =
(x)
E
=
P

(1

2
)
(2)
Displacement at the loaded end will be the integral of element deformations over the element
u= =
P

1
1

0
= 1.386
PL

(3)
Comparing all the solutions we can see that the FEA error of the solution regarding displacements is
approximately 4% when using 1 element and 1% when using 2 elements.
The error in the calculated stresses (as we will see in the next example) is generally higher.









38
For the bar of the figure with known E, L and constant A, determine the axial displacement and axial stress field
of the bar developed by the uniformly distributed axial load q(x)=c.
(a) by modelling the bar as a single 2 node element
(b) by modelling the bar as two 2 node bar elements with length L/2
(c) by modelling the bar as a single 3 node element
(d) using integration to obtain the exact solution:
Comment on the results of the different solutions.

(a) For the distributed load q(kN/m) we calculate the equivalent nodal loads:
r
e
=

= 1

0
=
/2
/2








Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 2
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
R
B
q(x)=c
A B
L

x





For the calculation of stress by Eq. (26):
(x) =

2
2
0
=

2














) 2 /( 2 /
2 /
2 /
0 1 1
1 1
2 /
2 /
} { } { } { } { ] [
2
EA cL u cL u
L
EA
R cL
cL u
L
EA
R cL
cL
r P R d k
A A
B
A
B
e
= =

)
`

+
=
)
`



)
`

+
= + = =
39
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 2
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
R
B
q(x)=c
A B
L/2

(b) Now, we solve the bar by using two equal length 2
node bar elements. The first element connects nodes A
and M and the second element nodes M and B.
Following the same procedure with Example 1 we obtain
the displacements at nodes as:

Elements stresses are then easily determined.
For element AM:
(x) =

4

For element MB:
(x) =
3
4





L/2

M
) 8 /( 3 ) 2 /(
2 2
EA cL u EA cL u
M A
= =
40
(c) Now, we solve the bar by using one 3 node bar element. The intermediate node 2 (point M) is at
the midpoint of the bar. For the distributed load q(kN/m) we calculate the equivalent nodal loads of
the 3-node bar element:
r
e
=

=
= 2

2
3

+1 4

2
+ 4

0
=

1
4
1







Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 2
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements

For the calculation of stress
(x) = =

3
8

+4
4

1
2
3
8
0
=















) 8 /( 3 ) 2 /(
6 /
6 / 4
6 /
0 7 8 1
8 16 8
1 8 7
3
6 /
6 / 4
6 /
} { } { } { ] [
2 2
EA cL u EA cL u
R cL
cL
cL
u
u
L
EA
R cL
cL
cL
r P d k
M A
B
M
A
B
q e
= =

+
=

(
(
(

+
= + =
R
B
q(x)=c
A B
L/2

L/2

M
3
2 1
41
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 2
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
R
B
q(x)=c
A B
L

x

(d) Here, we solve analytically the problem to obtain the exact solution.
Element stress at distance x is determined as:
x =
1
A

0
=
1
A
=
cx
A

0

Element strain is defined by Hookes law:
x =
(x)
E
=

EA


Displacement at a distance x from end A will be
x = u

x u x = c
1
+ = c
1

cx
2
2EA

0

We know that for x=L u(x) =0 c
1
=
cL
2
2EA


Hence, the final displacement field function field will be
u x =

2EA

2
0 =

2
2EA




42
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Example 2
Structural Engineering (CV3403)
One dimensional elements
The figures below present the variation of the displacement and stress field along the element.
u(x)

x

One 2 node element

0

(x)

x

L

0

L/2

Analytical and
the 3-node element

2
2

L/2

3
2
8

Two 2 node elements

L

One 2 node element

Two 2 node elements

Two 2 node elements

3
4


Analytical and
the 3-node element

43

You might also like