• Registered: 2014-01-15
  • Posts: 9

Topic: Mesh refinement

Hi there,

I have a RC  pile cap with a coarse mesh. I was wondering which stress is considered for cracking criteria in FE mesh? is it the stress at element surface or the average for that element?

Does finer mesh give a higher load capacity and whilst the coarse mesh is conservative?

I guess the crack will propagate in the whole element (not partially) and with the coarse mesh it will be quicker. Please confirm if that is correct.

kind regards,
Siavash

Quote Post 1

  • dpryl
  • CC software developer
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  • Registered: 2007-07-13
  • Posts: 1,107

Re: Mesh refinement

Hello, the material law is evaluated in each integration point - see also ATENA Troubleshooting, 2.1.23 The tensile (or compressive) stresses exceed the tensile (or compressive) strength or yield stress – what is wrong?

You can not say in general if the convergence with mesh refinement is from above or below - this can differ problem from problem, model from model.

You are right large elements are more brittle once a crack starts opening. For element sizes larger than the distance between localized cracks (typically, shells), please define crack spacing to prevent unrealistic brittleness.

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Quote Post 2