Development of a “smooth” finite element

Abstract

A “Smoothed” finite element (SFEM) is developed by introducing modifications to the strain/displacement matrix (otherwise known as the B-matrix) of a 4 node rectangular element. In ANSYS (finite element software), certain smoothing operations are done post priori to reflect better results after solutions have been obtained. In this report though, modifications are done a priori in the B-matrix and results obtained have been promising thus far.