A tying scheme for imposing displacement constraints in finite element analysis.

Abstract

This paper describes the formulation of elements to connect finite element meshes of differing dimensionality. The formulation employs minimization using Lagrange multipliers. While this technique is already described in many texts, this paper demonstrates how particular types of connection may be implemented as independent tie elements. Ties for connecting 2D and 3D nodes and for 2D to 2D nodes are formulated in this paper and examples are given showing their application.