Integrated force method - Compatibility conditions of structural mechanics for finite element analysis

The equilibrium equations and the compatibility conditions are fundamental to the analyses of structures. However, anyone who undertakes even a cursory generic study of the compatibility conditions can discover, with little effort, that historically this facet of structural mechanics had not been adequately researched by the profession. Now the compatibility conditions (CC's) have been researched and are understood to a great extent. For finite element discretizations, the CC's are banded and can be divided into three distinct categories: (1) the interface CC's, (2) the cluster or field CC's, and (3) the external CC's. The generation of CC's requires the separating of a local region, then writing the deformation displacement relation (ddr) for the region, and finally, the eliminating of the displacements from the ddr. The procedure to generate all three types of CC's is presented and illustrated through examples of finite element models. The uniqueness of the CC's thus generated is shown. The utilization of CC's has resulted in the novel integrated force method (IFM). The solution that is obtained by the IFM converges with a significantly fewer number of elements, compared to the stiffness and the hybrid methods.