Performance of a high-continuity finite element in three-dimensional elasticity

We test the performance of a three-dimensional finite element, named HC3, which generalizes the high-continuity (HC) finite element proposed by Aristodemo in 1985 for two-dimensional elastic problems. The HC3 finite element is based on a quadratic B-spline interpolation of the displacement field in three-dimensional linear elasticity. The main feature of this interpolation technique, which can be considered as a particular case of the Bezier interpolation, consists in its capability in reproducing displacement fields of C-1 smoothness with a computational cost equivalent to a linear interpolation, i.e. with a single knot for each element. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.