A Node-Based Smoothed Finite Element Method (NS-FEM) for Free and Forced Vibration Analysis of Three-Dimensional (3D) Structures

Abstract

The smoothed finite element method (S-FEM) has been found to be an effective solution method for solid mechanics problems. This paper proposes an effective approach to compute the lower bound solution of free vibration and the upper bound solution of the forced vibration of solid structures, by making use of the important softening effects of the node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM). Through the gradient smoothing technique, the strain-displacement matrix is obtained in the smoothing domain based on the element mesh nodes. Subsequently, the stiffness matrix is computed in a manner consistent with the standard finite element method (FEM). Here, the practical Lanczos algorithm and the modal superposition technique are employed to obtain the frequencies, modes, and transient responses of a given homogeneous structure. For three-dimensional (3D) solid structures, the automatically generated four-node tetrahedron (T4) element meshes are utilized. The results obtained from the NS-FEM are compared with the standard FEM in terms of accuracy, convergence and computational efficiency.