Remeshing in analysis of large plastic deformations

Very distorted elements in a finite element computation will affect the results in a negative way. In applications where large plastic deformations are present, the mesh often deteriorates so badly, that remeshing is the only option to avoid a breakdown in the numerical computations. In the present paper, a model of a tensile test specimen and a model of a solid containing a very small isolated void are used to test a remeshing scheme developed for models consisting of 8-noded isoparametric elements. The transfer of data from the old, distorted mesh to the new mesh is made by means of interpolation. The analysis is based on a total Lagrangian formulation of the field equations, but the stresses are transferred in terms of Cartesian components. It is shown that in the model of the tensile test specimen, necking nearly down to a point can be described by the use of remeshing. In the simulation of the growing unstable void the breakdown of the computations is considerably postponed, by using only a few remeshings. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.