Element Geometries

This section defines the ordering of nodes and Gauss points numbering for different element geometries. The following figures display the element information with numbering corresponding to the order of definition in the .geof file.

The following element geometries are available:

Elements	Description
spr1, spr2	Springs with fixed behavior (in .geof file). These accept spring parameters after the node list.
l2d2, l2d2r, l3d2, l3d2r	Line elements. These are used for truss or spring elements with two nodes. There is only a force acting between the nodes.
l2d1, l3d1	One node spring or dashpot elements. These oppose motion from their original location.
rve1d, rve2d, rve3d	Representative volume element (RVE) to be used for material simulation. There are no nodes and only one “integration” point.
deb2	2D debonding element geometry.
c2d3r, c2d3, c2d4r, c2d4, c2d6r, c2d6, c2d8r, c2d8	2D continuum elements. “r” denotes reduced integration.
cax3r, cax3, cax4r, cax4, cax6r, cax6, cax8r, cax8	Axisymmetric 2D continuum elements.
c3d4, c3d4r, c3d4_11, c3d5, c3d5_6, c3d5_8, c3d5_27, c3d6r, c3d6, c3d6_3, c3d8r, c3d8, c3d8_4, c3d10, c3d10_4, c3d10_11, c3d10r, c3d12, c3d12r, c3d13, c3d13r, c3d13_8, c3d13_27, c3d15r, c3d15, c3d15_9, c3d16, c3d16r, c3d20r, c3d20	3D continuum elements.
sax3, sax3r, sax3rr, sax2, sax2r, sax2rr	Axisymmetric shells.
s3d3r, s3d3, s3d4r, s3d4, s3d6r, s3d6, s3d8r, s3d8	3D shells.

Node definitions for different element geometries are given on the following page. Note that all other information about the element chosen (formulation, material, real constants) are specified in terms of element sets in the problem.inp file.