Examples of adaptive FEA in plasticity

Abstract Adaptivity and error estimation in finite element analysis (FEA) has received considerable interest, but most of the work has been in the linear range. Its use in materially non-linear processes has been investigated by the authors in a recent paper [J.S. Sandhu et al., Adaptive Finite Element Analysis in Plasticity, COMPLAS III (April 1992)]. In this paper we present some examples which further illustrate the use of adaptive FEA in materially non-linear analyses. At present, this area has received little attention mainly due to there being no reliable and simple error estimators. We have used linear and non-linear error indicators in an attempt to develop a simple and efficient materially non-linear FEA adaptive program. The non-linear plasticity model is based on an incremental theory using the Von Mises yield criterion.