An approach to the connection between subdomains with non-matching meshes for transient mechanical analysis

International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Vol 55, Num 8, pp.973 - 1003, November 2002

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

A. Combescure
Laboratoire de Mécanique et de Technologie, ENS de Cachan, 61 Avenue du Président Wilson, F-94235 Cachan Cedex, France

Abstract

This paper describes a general method for coupling non-matching linear finite element meshes in transient dynamic analysis. We propose a method based on Schuraposs dual formulation whose main advantage is to provide equilibrium as well as kinematic continuity throughout the interface. The essence of our work lies in the particular discretization of the space of Lagrange multipliers and in the validation of the method through two- and three-dimensional static calculations as well as two-dimensional dynamic calculations. An example is also presented and the results are compared to those of the mortar method.