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Article: Estimating errors in FE analyses. (finite element)
- Article from:
- Mechanical Engineering-CIME
- Article date:
- May 1, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 American Society of Mechanical Engineers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tell a new user of finite element analysis (FEA) that his FEA solution is in error and he'll probably be offended. Say the same thing to an experienced analyst and he'll most likely not only agree with you but also tell you by how much it is in error. That's because experienced analysts know that nearly all FEA solutions are approximations and they make it their business to estimate the error in those approximations.
Except for very rare occasions, finite element models yield only approximate solutions to the equations of calculus. We can estimate the error in those solutions by performing a convergence study, sometimes called a mesh refinement study. ...