A point interpolation method for two-dimensional solids

Abstract

A point interpolation method (PIM) is presented for stress analysis for two-dimensional solids. In the PIM, the problem domain is represented by properly scattered points. A technique is proposed to construct polynomial interpolants with delta function property based only on a group of arbitrarily distributed points. The PIM equations are then derived using variational principles. In the PIM, the essential boundary conditions can be implemented with case as in the conventional finite element methods. The present PIM has been coded in FORTRAN. The validity and efficiency of the present PIM formulation are demonstrated through example problems. It is found that the present PIM is very easy to implement, and very flexible for obtained displacements and stresses of desired accuracy in solids. As the elements are not used for meshing the problem domain, the present PIM opens new avenues to develop adaptive analysis codes for stress analysis in solids and structures. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.