Comparison of Three-Dimensional Flexible Beam Elements for Dynamic Analysis: Classical Finite Element Formulation and Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation

Author(s):  
A. L. Schwab ◽  
J. P. Meijaard

Three formulations for a flexible spatial beam element for dynamic analysis are compared: a Timoshenko beam with large displacements and rotations, a fully parametrized element according to the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF), and an ANCF element based on an elastic line approach. In the last formulation, the shear locking of the antisymmetric bending mode is avoided by the application of either the two-field Hellinger–Reissner or the three-field Hu–Washizu variational principle. The comparison is made by means of linear static deflection and eigenfrequency analyses on stylized problems. It is shown that the ANCF fully parametrized element yields too large torsional and flexural rigidities, and shear locking effectively suppresses the antisymmetric bending mode. The presented ANCF formulation with the elastic line approach resolves most of these problems.

Author(s):  
A. L. Schwab ◽  
J. P. Meijaard

Three formulations for a flexible spatial beam element for dynamic analysis are compared: a finite element method (FEM) formulation, an absolute nodal coordinate (ANC) formulation with a continuum mechanics approach and an ANC formulation with an elastic line concept where the shear locking of the asymmetric bending mode is suppressed by the application of the Hellinger–Reissner principle. The comparison is made by means of an eigenfrequency analysis on two stylized problems. It is shown that the ANC continuum approach yields too large torsional and flexural rigidity and that shear locking suppresses the asymmetric bending mode. The presented ANC formulation with the elastic line concept resolves most of these problems.


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed A. Shabana ◽  
Refaat Y. Yakoub

The description of a beam element by only the displacement of its centerline leads to some difficulties in the representation of the torsion and shear effects. For instance such a representation does not capture the rotation of the beam as a rigid body about its own axis. This problem was circumvented in the literature by using a local coordinate system in the incremental finite element method or by using the multibody floating frame of reference formulation. The use of such a local element coordinate system leads to a highly nonlinear expression for the inertia forces as the result of the large element rotation. In this investigation, an absolute nodal coordinate formulation is presented for the large rotation and deformation analysis of three dimensional beam elements. This formulation leads to a constant mass matrix, and as a result, the vectors of the centrifugal and Coriolis forces are identically equal to zero. The formulation presented in this paper takes into account the effect of rotary inertia, torsion and shear, and ensures continuity of the slopes as well as the rotation of the beam cross section at the nodal points. Using the proposed formulation curved beams can be systematically modeled.


Author(s):  
Oleg N. Dmitrochenko ◽  
Bassam A. Hussein ◽  
Ahmed A. Shabana

The effect of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF)–coupled deformation modes on the accuracy and efficiency when higher order three-dimensional beam and plate finite elements are used is investigated in this study. It is shown that while computational efficiency can be achieved in some applications by neglecting the effect of some of the ANCF-coupled deformation modes, such modes introduce geometric stiffening/softening effects that can be significant in the case of very flexible structures. As shown in previous publications, for stiff structures, the effect of the ANCF-coupled deformation modes can be neglected. For such stiff structures, the solution does not strongly depend on some of the ANCF-coupled deformation modes, and formulations that include these modes lead to numerical results that are in good agreement with formulations that exclude them. In the case of a very flexible structure, on the other hand, the inclusion of the ANCF-coupled deformation modes becomes necessary in order to obtain an accurate solution. In this case of very flexible structures, the use of the general continuum mechanics approach leads to an efficient solution algorithm and to more accurate numerical results. In order to examine the effect of the elastic force formulation on the efficiency and the coupling between different modes of deformation, three different models are used again to formulate the elastic forces in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. These three methods are the general continuum mechanics approach, the elastic line (midsurface) approach, and the elastic line (midsurface) approach with the Hellinger–Reissner principle. Three-dimensional absolute nodal coordinate formulation beam and plate elements are used in this study. In the general continuum mechanics approach, the coupling between the cross section deformation and the beam centerline or plate midsurface displacement is considered, while in the approaches based on the elastic line and the Hellinger–Reissner principle, this coupling is neglected. In addition to the fully parametrized beam element used in this study, three different plate elements, two fully parametrized and one reduced order thin plate elements, are used. The numerical results obtained using different finite elements and elastic force formulations are compared in this study.


Author(s):  
Jimmy D. Nielsen ◽  
Søren B. Madsen ◽  
Per Hyldahl ◽  
Ole Balling

The Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation (ANCF) has shown promising results in dynamic analysis of structures that undergo large deformation. The method relaxes the assumption of infinitesimal rotations. Being based in a fixed inertial reference frame leads to a constant mass matrix and zero centrifugal and Coriolis forces [12]. This makes the method attractive for multibody dynamics implementation. The focus in this paper is the application of ANCF beam elements and their performance on large deformation dynamic analysis. Large dynamic deformation is characteristic for the installation process of offshore submerged oil pipes using oceangoing vessels. In this investigation such an oil pipe is modeled using ANCF beam elements to simulate the dynamic behavior of the pipe during the installation process. Multiple physical effects such as gravity, buoyancy, seabed contact, and fluid damping, are included to mimic the external forces acting on the pipe during installation. The scope of this investigation is to demonstrate the ability using the ANCF to analyze the dynamic behavior of an offshore oil pipe during installation.


Author(s):  
Abdel-Nasser A. Mohamed ◽  
Jeff Liu

In this investigation, a three dimensional gradient deficient beam element (BEAM9) using the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) is introduced. This element has nine coordinates per node, this includes the position vector and the two gradient vectors rx and ry. Like most of the ANCF elements, this element has constant mass matrix and zero centrifugal and Coriolis inertia forces. The plane strain elastic force model and the elastic line approach are two elastic force models presented in this paper in order to simulate the element internal resistance. Both models support resistance to the general bending and twist moments. The possibilities of employing nonlinear material models will be discussed in future work. Furthermore, the proposed element has the advantage of easy integration over general cross section area that is not easy to perform using the fully parameterized ANCF beam element (BEAM12). Comparing to the ANCF cable element (BEAM6), the proposed element can resist general bending and twist loads. Moreover, shear deformations in the xy plane due to shear force and in the yz plane due to twist moment are considered with the gradient deficient beam element proposed in this work. However, no shear deformations are considered with the ANCF cable element. Comparing to the fully parameterized ANCF beam element, the gradient deficient beam element (BEAM9) avoids some locking issues, shows better computational efficiency and offers better convergency characteristics. Numerical examples are presented in order to validate the proposed gradient deficient beam element and to compare with other ANCF beam elements.


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 614-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Refaat Y. Yakoub ◽  
Ahmed A. Shabana

This part of these two companion papers demonstrates the computer implementation of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation for three-dimensional beam elements. Two beam elements that relax the assumptions of Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories are developed. These two elements take into account the effect of rotary inertia, shear deformation and torsion, and yet they lead to a constant mass matrix. As a consequence, the Coriolis and centrifugal forces are identically equal to zero. Both beam elements use the same interpolating polynomials and have the same number of nodal coordinates. However, one of the elements has two nodes, while the other has four nodes. The results obtained using the two elements are compared with the results obtained using existing incremental methods. Unlike existing large rotation vector formulations, the results of this paper show that no special numerical integration methods need to be used in order to satisfy the principle of work and energy when the absolute nodal coordinate formulation is used. These results show that this formulation can be used in manufacturing applications such as high speed forming and extrusion problems in which the element cross section dimensions significantly change.


Author(s):  
Jussi T. Sopanen ◽  
Aki M. Mikkola

The objective of this study is to investigate the accuracy of elastic force models that can be used in the absolute nodal coordinate finite element formulation for the analysis of threedimensional beams. The elastic forces of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation can be derived using a continuum mechanics approach. This study investigates the accuracy and usability of such an approach for the three-dimensional absolute nodal coordinate beam element. This study also presents an improvement proposal for the use of a continuum mechanics approach in deriving the expression of the elastic forces of the beam element. The improvement proposal is verified using several numerical examples. Numerical examples show that the proposed elastic force model of the beam element agrees with analytical results as well as with solutions obtained using existing finite element formulation. The results also imply that the beam element does not suffer from the phenomenon called shear locking. In the beam element under investigation, global displacements and slopes are used as the nodal coordinates, which resulted in a large number of nodal degrees of freedom. This study provides a physical interpretation of the nodal coordinates used in the absolute nodal coordinate beam element. It is shown that the beam element based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation relaxes the assumption of the rigid cross-section and is capable of representing a distortional deformation of the cross-section.


2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aki M. Mikkola ◽  
Marko K. Matikainen

Dynamic analysis of large rotation and deformation can be carried out using the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. This formulation, which utilizes global displacements and slope coordinates as nodal variables, make it possible to avoid the difficulties that arise when a rotation is interpolated in three-dimensional applications. In the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, a continuum mechanics approach has become the dominating procedure when elastic forces are defined. It has recently been perceived, however, that the continuum mechanics based absolute nodal coordinate elements suffer from serious shortcomings, including Poisson’s locking and poor convergence rate. These problems can be circumvented by modifying the displacement field of a finite element in the definition of elastic forces. This allows the use of the mixed type interpolation technique, leading to accurate and efficient finite element formulations. This approach has been previously applied to two- and three-dimensional absolute nodal coordinate based finite elements. In this study, the improved approach for elastic forces is extended to the absolute nodal coordinate plate element. The introduced plate element is compared in static examples to the continuum mechanics based absolute nodal coordinate plate element, as well as to commercial finite element software. A simple dynamic analysis is performed using the introduced element in order to demonstrate the capability of the element to conserve energy.


Author(s):  
A. L. Schwab ◽  
J. Gerstmayr ◽  
J. P. Meijaard

Three formulations for a flexible 3-D thin plate element for dynamic analysis within a multibody dynamics environment are compared: a classical Discrete Kirchhoff Triangle (DKT) with large displacements and large rotations, a fully parametrized rectangular element according to the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) and a rectangular element according to the ANCF with an elastic midplane approach. The comparison is made by means of a small deformation static test and extensive eigenfrequency analyses on a stylized problem. It is shown that the DKT element can describe arbitrary rigid body motions and that both the DKT element and the thin plate ANCF element show good convergence to analytic solutions by increasing number of elements, and suppress shear locking which is present in the fully parametrized ANCF element.


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