A New Nodal-Integration-Based Finite Element Method for the Numerical Simulation of Welding Processes

This paper aims at introducing a new nodal-integration-based finite element method for the numerical calculation of residual stresses induced by welding processes. The main advantage of the proposed method is to be based on first-order tetrahedral meshes, thus greatly facilitating the meshing of complex geometries using currently available meshing tools. In addition, the formulation of the problem avoids any locking phenomena arising from the plastic incompressibility associated with von Mises plasticity and currently encountered with standard 4-node tetrahedral elements. The numerical results generated by the nodal approach are compared to those obtained with more classical simulations using finite elements based on mixed displacement–pressure formulations: 8-node Q1P0 hexahedra (linear displacement, constant pressure) and 4-node P1P1 tetrahedra (linear displacement, linear pressure). The comparisons evidence the efficiency of the nodal approach for the simulation of complex thermal–elastic–plastic problems.

A Moving Kriging Interpolation Meshfree Method Based on Naturally Stabilized Nodal Integration Scheme for Plate Analysis

A moving Kriging interpolation (MKI) meshfree method based on naturally stabilized nodal integration (NSNI) scheme is presented to study static, free vibration and buckling behaviors of isotropic Reissner–Mindlin plates. Gradient strains are directly computed at nodes similar to the direct nodal integration (DNI). Outstanding features of the current approach are to alleviate instability solutions in the DNI and to decrease computational cost significantly when compared with the traditional high-order Gauss quadrature scheme. The NSNI is a naturally implicit gradient expansion and does not employ a divergence theorem for strain fields as addressed in the stabilized conforming nodal integration method. The present formulation is derived from the Galerkin weak form and avoids a naturally shear-locking phenomenon without using any other techniques. Thanks to satisfied Kronecker delta function property of MKI shape function, essential boundary conditions (BCs) are easily and directly enforced similar to the finite element method. A variety of numerical examples with various geometries, stiffness ratios and BCs are studied to verify the effectiveness of the present approach.