Advanced FEM

15
The Patch Test

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 1
 Advanced FEM

To Construct High Performance Plate & Shell

Elements, You Need 3 Kinds of Tools

(1) Tools for Element Design

(2) Tools for Element Construction

(3) Tools for Element Verification

The Patch Test supports (1) and (3)

Tools for (2) are covered in the next Chapter

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 2
 Advanced FEM

Patch Test As Verification Tool

Two scenarios:

Individual Element Verification. You have coded an element,

and it passes the obvious tests. But how can you check that
it solves correctly the target problem?

Mixability Verification. You have coded two elements that

are supposed to work together when connected. (For
example, a plate and an edge beam.) How do you
check that the combination works correctly for the
target problem?

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 3
 Advanced FEM
FEM as a Form of Rayleigh-Ritz
For FEM to fit within the classical Ritz method:

(1) Trial functions must be admissible in the

sense of providing

continuity (intra- and inter-element)

completeness

as required by variational index of master variables

(2) Functional integration must be exact and provide

rank sufficiency
(3) Essential BCs satisfied strongly (pointwise)

If all of these conditions are met, "convergence in energy"

as the mesh is refined follows from Ritz theory

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 4
 Advanced FEM
Variational Crimes
In FEM, as actually used, those requirements may be at least
partly violated. Such violations were labeled by Strang
variational crimes. Here is a list of possible offenses.
(1) Lack of completeness
(2) Lack of invariance:
element response depends on observer frame
(3) Rank deficiency
(4) Nonconformity: violation of interelement
continuity as required by variational index
(5) Inexact, but rank sufficient, numerical integration
(6) Inexact treatment of curved boundaries and essential BC

(1) and (2) are capital crimes (3) a misdemeanor

(4)-(5) could be in fact beneficial, (6) generally unimportant

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 5
 Advanced FEM
What is a Patch?
A patch is the set of all elements attached to a given node:

i i i

bars
A finite element patch trial function is the union of shape
functions activated by setting a degree of freedom at that node
to unity, while all other freedoms are zero. A patch trial function
"propagates" only over the patch, and is zero beyond it.
(This definition is strictly applicable to displacement-assumed
elements only)

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 6
 Advanced FEM
Heterogeneous Patches in 3D
(mesh not pictured)
(a) (b)

plate w/
drilling DOF solid

solid plates
beam

(d)
(c)
shells slab

wall edge beams

solid

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 7
 Advanced FEM
There are Many Versions of the
Physical Patch Test

Multielement Tests
Homogeneous (Irons et al)
Displacement Patch Test in this
Force (aka Stress) Patch Test Chapter
Mixed Patch Tests
Heterogeneous
One Element Tests
Individual Element Test (IET: Bergan-Hanssen)
Single Element Test (SET: Taylor et al)

Can be done numerically or symbolically

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 8
 Advanced FEM
Multielement Displacement Patch Test (DPT) for a
Rigid Body Mode (RBM): Translation in x Direction

Set interior node

forces to zero Set uxi = 1, uyi = 0
(a) at exterior nodes

Background
continuum

(b) x

Background displacement field: ux = 1, u y = 0

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 9
 Advanced FEM

Multielement Displacement Patch Test (DPT) for a

Constant Strain State e xx = 1 in x Direction
Set interior node
forces to zero Set u xi = xi , uyi = 0
at exterior nodes
(a)

Background
continuum

(b) x

Background displacement field: ux = x, u y = 0

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 10
 Advanced FEM
Multielement Force Patch Test (FPT) for a
Constant Stress State σxx = 1 in x Direction
Set interior node
forces to zero

(a) tx = 1 tx = 1

Set forces on exterior

y nodes to consistently
lumped surface tractions

Background
continuum

(b) x

Background stress field: σ xx = 1, others 0

AFEM Ch 15 – Slide 11