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A Study of MITC4 Mesh Distortion and The Effect on Element Jacobian


A test patch of plate elements with rotation-free edge support shows the following results. 1. A regular Q4 mesh, or one with only edge distortion, is highly accurate in terms of displacement, moment, and symmetry.

  1. A coarse mesh with internal distortion loses its predictability sharply when distorted. A coarse mesh can have a poor Jacobian condition matrix. It also affects the symmetry of the finite element results.

  2. With refinement, the accuracy of the distorted mesh improves quickly. The condition number of a 10x10 distorted mesh has reduced from 6.1 to 2.6 on a 20x20 mesh.

  3. Mesh refinement near high moment gradients is necessary for coarse-mesh accuracy.

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