AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR ELIMINATING STRESS CONCENTRATION IN A FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

Abstract

The reliability of a mechanical design is established by design validation that is carried out using finite element method. Such a numerical technique method provides a very useful alternative to experimental testing which can be very expensive. During FE analysis, the overestimated stress concentrations need to be resolved or in some cases eliminated, in order to predict the actual response of the material. This thesis is aimed at developing a new and improved method for resolving and eliminating overestimated stress concentrations from an FE model. The proposed method is validated using an appropriate geometry whose experimental results are available. This will result in a provision aimed at better mechanical design methodology for application on any finite element static analysis.