Method of incompatible modes – overview and application

Abstract

The finite-element method has been in use in the engineering community for over 50 years, a period during which it has been constantly improved. One important improvement is the addition of required displacement modes ("incompatible modes") into the element’s shape functions. Such addition violates the continuity condition, and has to be realised according to certain rules if convergence is to be achieved. The benefits are shown in the element’s behaviour under unfavourable loading conditions, and in the possibility of a simplified treatment of strain or displacement discontinuities.