Utilizacao de Elementos Finitos de Equilibrio em Refinemento Adaptado

This thesis studies the use of equilibrium finite elements in a posteriori error estimation and h-adaptive refinement, for static linear elastic problems. An h-adaptive refinement strategy, based upon the dual analysis of an equilibrium finite element model and a compatible finite element model, is implemented. This analysis gives and upper bound for the error and element error indicators. Several alternatives for obtaining error estimators and indicators, based only upon an equilibrium finite element solution, are proposed. One of these alternatives, based upon the explicit use of the compatibility defaults, is developed and used in the implementation of an h-adaptive refinement strategy. The implemented error estimators and refinement strategies are used in the analysis of some plane elasticity problems. The results obtained are compared, in order to reach some conclusionsAvailable from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Servico de Informacao e Documentacao, Av. D. Carlos I, 126, 1200 Lisboa / FCT - Fundação para o Ciência e a TecnologiaSIGLEPTPortuga