Chapter 7: Analyses of Components with Mixed Elements

Thus far in this book, we have explored simulation examples in which components are discretized using a single family of elements. However, as can often happen with many complex practical design problems with diverse functional components, you will face situations where the goal will be to put these elements together in one single simulation task. Consider, say, the simulation of car frames, building frameworks, or plane fuselages with all the flooring details and connections. By taking advantage of putting different elements together, you can accelerate the simulation runtime or reduce the computational resources required to achieve your simulation objectives.

For the above reason, the elements you have seen in the previous chapters will make a re-appearance again in this chapter. We will examine two case studies, and our discussion will orient around the following topics:

• Analysis of three-dimensional components with...