54

CHAPTER 4. FEM SOFTWARE

Figure 4.24: Refined zone of the 26506 shell elements mesh.

Figure 4.25: Elements defined by 2 pairs of seeds with equal length (highlighted).

The material of the two models is steel with the following mechanical properties:
E = 200 109 P a; = 0.3; = 8700 kg/m3 .
The Abaqus specification for the standard finite elements used in these concepts analysis is,
[71]:
linear shell element S4R: A 4-node doubly curved thin or thick shell, reduced integration, hourglass control, finite membrane strains;
linear solid element C3D8R: An 8-node linear brick, reduced integration, hourglass
control.
Concerning hourglass effect, common on under-integrated elements, Abaqus elements library provides shell elements with hourglass control as is the case of shell element used in the
present example, S4R and C3D8R.