Novel weak form quadrature element method with expanded Chebyshev nodes

Based on the principle of minimum potential energy and the differential quadrature rule, novel weak form quadrature element method is proposed. Different from the existing ones, expanded Chebyshev grid points are used as the element nodes. A simple but general way is proposed to compute the strains at the integration points explicitly by using the differential quadrature rule. For illustration and verification, quadrature bar and beam elements are established. Several examples are given. Numerical results indicate that the proposed quadrature element method allows a longer time step as compared to elements with other nodes and is an accurate and efficient method for structural analysis. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.