Adaptive finite element procedures for linear and non-linear dynamics

This paper discusses implementation and adaptivity of the Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method as applied to linear and non-linear structural dynamic problems. By the DG method, both displacements and velocities are approximated as piecewise bilinear functions in space and time and may be discontinuous at the discrete time levels. Both implicit and explicit iterative algorithms for solving the resulted system of coupled equations are derived. They are third-order accurate and, while the implicit procedure is unconditionally stable, the explicit one is conditionally stable. An h-adaptive procedure based on the Zienkiewicz-Zhu error estimate using the SPR technique is applied. Numerical examples are presented to show the suitability of the DG method for both linear and non-linear structural dynamic analysis. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.