Element Integration#
This section defines the positions and numbering of element Gauss points
used for spatial integration. These points are the only places where
material values (e.g. stress and strain) exist. If you need accurate
values of material variables it is highly advised to use a **test
output option to output directly at them (with the *gauss_var
option), or use the **value_at_integration
output for the
structure.
Gauss points are defined in a local element coordinate system which is
mapped to the global coordinates (real element geometry) using the
element shape functions. The element is defined in the reference coordinates
by
To visualize Gauss points numbers and positions for one or several elements of the current visible elset,
use View

Fig. 4 Visualization of a c3d8
Gauss points.#
Additionally there is a post-processing gp_xyz
to output the
exact positions of the gauss points.
****post_processing
***global_post_processing
**file integ
**process gp_xyz
screen % output directly in the screen
****return
For a c3d8
, running the previous file prints:
Element 1 / # of integration points : 8
0 : (0.211325,0.211325,0.211325)
1 : (0.788675,0.211325,0.211325)
2 : (0.211325,0.788675,0.211325)
3 : (0.788675,0.788675,0.211325)
4 : (0.211325,0.211325,0.788675)
5 : (0.788675,0.211325,0.788675)
6 : (0.211325,0.788675,0.788675)
7 : (0.788675,0.788675,0.788675)