Abstract
Various transition elements are generally used for the effective analysis of a complicated mechanical structure. In this paper, a solid-to-beam transition finite element which connects a continuum element and a $c^1-continuity$ beam element each other is proposed. The shape functions of the transition finite elements, which a 8-noded hexahedral solid element fur 3D analysis and a 4-noded quadrilateral plane element fur 2D analysis are connected to a Euler's beam element, are explicitely formulated. In order to show the effectiveness and convergence characteristics of the proposed transition elements. numerical tests are performed for various examples and their results are compared with those obtained by other methods. As the result of this study. following conclusions are obtained: (1)The proposed transition finite elements show the monotonic convergence characteristics because of having used the compatible displacement folds. (2)As being used the transition element in the finite element analysis, the finite element modelings are more convenient and the analysis results are more accurate because of the formulation characteristies of the Euler's beam element.
