Element types of Finite Element system MEANS V5
MEANS-BEAM - 2D bar and 3D beam elements
MEANS-SHELL - 2D plane, 2D plate and 3D shell elements
MEANS-SOLID - 3D solid elements
MEANS-BEAM - 2D bar and 3D beam elements
MEANS-BEAM contains bar and beam elements. Bar
elements only can take and transmit axial forces, whereas
beam elements also can carry transverse forces and bending
moments, which means that the nodes of bar elements
only have translation degrees of freedom, whereas the nodes of
beam elements also have rotational degrees of freedom.
Beams can be completely fixed at one end, trusses are always
supported with joints.
Bar elements are used for modeling cranes,
poles, cables, springs and other lattice structures. They are
also used as
connectors and supports.
Beam elements can model almost all structures
using very simple meshes, provided the beam section is regular
and the
section area and the moments of inertia can be determined.
Otherwise the beam section properties must be estimated
or the structure must be modeled using plane or solid elements.
Since beam elements are represented as lines,
the orientation of the section is not visualized and must be
controlled otherwise
by the user.
Element types in MEANS-BEAM:
Capabilities:
Typical analysis of a truss structure using 2D beams
Determination of the eigenfrequencies and
eigenforms of an vibration table using 3D beam elements
(including add-on module DYNAMIC)
MEANS-SHELL - 2D plane, 2D plate and 3D shell elements
The elements in MEANS-SHELL can be divided in 3 classes:
The plane elements (also membranes) can carry and transmit forces only in their plane (analogous to the bars) and are commonly used for plane stress and plane strain models.
Plate elements can also carry transverse loads and bending moments and are used for determining the bending of plane structures.
3D shell elements can carry forces and moments lying in their plane as well as transverse to their plane. Theses are more general elements and will be used for spatial structures, whose extension in one direction is much smaller than in the other two. Compared to the modeling with solid elements, using shell elements is more comfortable and exact.
The results of all flat elements, especially of the plates and shells, are reliable only if the following is considered:
Element types in MEANS-SHEL:
Boundary conditions:
Loads:
Results:
Calculation of a wrench using 2D plane elements
Calculation of a floor using 2D plate elements
Calculation of a katamaran-sailing-yacht using shell elements
Calculation of a turbine casing using SHEL8 elements
MEANS-SOLID - 3D solid elements
MEANS-SOLID contains the 3 dimensional solid
elements. With these nearly all volumetric structures can be
modeled
and calculated. The number of elements and therefore the number
of nodes is much larger than in comparable 2D models.
The isoparametric hexahedron element is particularly important
because of ist preciseness and flexibility.
The following rules should be considered, when modeling with solid elements:
Boundary conditions:
Loads:
Results:
Distribution of the y-stress component in an oil elevator using HEX8 / HEX20 and PEN6 / PEN15 solid elements
Mesh generation of closed 3D volume models for CAD
programmes such as Inventor or Solid Works
using Tetrahedron Elements TET4 and TET10
