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Finite Element Analysis: what's the difference between

first order and second order elements?
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Rahul Vishark, Master's Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological

University
Updated Sep 6, 2018 · Upvoted by Madhu Kasturi, M.Tech Mechanical Engineering & Heat
Power Engineering, Government College Of Engineering, Karad

Post discretization in FEA, all the elements are assigned a function (a polynomial)
which would be used to represent the behavior of the element. Polynomial equations
are preferred for this as they can be easily differentiated and integrated. Order of an
element is the same as the order of the polynomial equation used to represent the
element.

A Linear element or First order element will have nodes only at the corners. This is
something like the Edge Centered Cubic Structure.

However, a Second order element or Quadratic element will have mid side nodes in
addition to nodes at the corner (edge + body + face centered cubic structure).

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A linear element in the above diagram clearly has two nodes per edge and hence
needs only a Linear equation to be assigned to represent the element behaviour.

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To accurately capture1 complex curvatures, very high order polynomials 1 are needed
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but they come at the cost of increased computational time. Hence, its better to have
a trade off between degree of accuracy and computational time.

Now, lets talk of number of nodes between first and second order elements. The
number of nodes is arrived by Pascal’s Triangle.

The following are for triangles. For a 0th order , the number of terms is 1 which is the
number of nodes must be 1.

For a linear (first order polynomial), the number of terms is 3 which is the number of
nodes must be 3.

For a quadratic (second order polynomial), the number of terms is 6 which is number
of nodes=6.

Now in case of squares, we have to consider the square as an addition of two

triangles. The results for 0th order, Linear and Quadratic are as follows-

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Dhaval Trivedi, Bachelor's Mechanical Engineering & Machine Design (2016)

Answered Sep 22, 2016

First order elements are generally composed of the combination of lines

(meaningfully the construction of F.O.E is governed by linear deferential equations or
first order deferential equations ) i.e triangle, tat element. They are best in accuracy
while dealing with the geometrically biased shapes like perfect square, rectangle etc.
They have lesser nodes on the desired territory.

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3/6/2020 (1) Finite Element Analysis: what's the difference between first order and second order elements? - Quora
Second order elements 1 are composed of curves and curvature lines 1(meaningfully
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the construction of S.O.E is governed by second order deferential equations ) they
have the tendencies to show the greater amount of accuracy on geometrically biased
as well as the very intricate or complicated geometrical elements while performing
FEA
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BG, Bhargav Gajji is Mechanical engineer with Passion for

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Updated Jan 13, 2016

I hope you understand the math behind these elements. You can try looking at the
formulation of these elements in any standard books on FEA.

But, if you ate looking for the answer why one uses the first order instead of second
order, then here are the reasons.

First order:

Less number of nodes to solve for same number if elements.

People are not really bothered at the slope continuity but looking for maximum
displacement

Easy convergence.

Note: in general people have to have more number of first order elements to get
better accuracy in a given volume than number of  second order elements.

Second...(more)

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Don Rolph, I have worked with finite element analysis for perhaps 25 years.
Answered Jan 13, 2016

Wasfi Zakaria has provided an excellent description of the approach which

differentiates first order form second order elements.

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3/6/2020 (1) Finite Element Analysis: what's the difference between first order and second order elements? - Quora
There is a subtle complexity
1 introduced in elements as they become higher
1 order.
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Let us look at a triangle in real space.

The canonical shape function in real coordinates for a linear triangle element is:

P = a + bx + cy (3 parameters and 3 nodes)

and

dP/dx = b  or the strain in the x direction can vary linearly in y.

dP/dy = c or the strain in the y direction can vary linearly in x.

The canonical shape function in real coordinates for a bilinear (second order)
triangle...(more)

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2 more comment from Ibrahim Günal, and more

Zakaria Wasfi, Master's degree Mechanical Engineering & Mechanical Design

Engineering, ENSEM Engineering School - Casablan...
Answered Jan 2, 2016

it's the polynomial function that describe the element, in fact, for the first order
elements have a function like : P(x)= a*x+b

and for the second order elements, the function is something like : P(x)=a*x^2 +
b*x+c

in the picture above, the first line of elements are 1st order while the 2nd order
elements are in the 2nd line.

PS : you can see the parabolic form of the 2nd order elements, that's the thing 1st
order elements cannot give to you.
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4 more comments from Zakaria Wasfi, Mufaddal Rasheed, Mohammed Fahim, and more

Ajay B. Harish, Top 10 most viewed writers in Finite Element Method

Updated Sep 19

A simple & crude way to describe the difference is to think of an example of

interpolation between two points in the x − y plane, say (x1 , y1 ) and (x2 , y2 ) .
These two points can be joined by a straight line (a linear interpolation) or a curved
line (higher-order interpolation ).

If one intends to find the value (i.e the corresponding y3 ) at an intermediate point
x 3 , one will need to do an interpolation. Depending on the order of interpolation,

the value of y3 is ascertained.

In FEM, it is wrong to directly assume that second- (or higher-order) elements would
perform better or are more accurate. For example: In problems ...(more)

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