Static - Adaptive

Sets the adaptive options for a static study. The settings take place when you run the study. The options are ignored if you run design scenarios. The p-method does not refine the mesh but uses progressively higher element order to improve results. The h-method refines the mesh and does not change the element order. In addition to having better accuracy by using more elements in critical regions, the refined mesh represents the geometry in critical regions more closely in each loop.

Adaptive method

None  
h-adaptive Available for solid part and assembly documents.
p-adaptive Available for solid part and assembly documents.

h-adaptive options

Target accuracy Sets the accuracy level for the strain energy norm. This is NOT the stress accuracy level. However, a high-level of accuracy in the convergence of the strain energy norm indicates good stress results. Use the slider to set the desired level.
Accuracy bias You can move the slider toward Local to instruct the program to concentrate on getting accurate peak stress results using less number of elements. Or you can move the slider toward Global to instruct the program to concentrate on getting overall accurate results.
Stress singularities occur at the locations of concentrated forces and sharp corners. The stresses at these locations keep increasing as smaller elements are used. For models with such singularities, it is recommended to move the slider toward Global.
Maximum no. of loops Sets the maximum number of loops allowed when you run the study. The maximum possible number of loops is 5.
Mesh coarsening Select to allow the program to coarsen the mesh in regions with low error during the adaptive loops. The number of elements in consecutive loops may increase or decrease depending on the model and the initial mesh. If this option is not checked, the program does not change the mesh in regions with low errors. The number of elements in this case keeps increasing in each adaptive loop.

The program stops the loops when the target accuracy is achieved or the maximum number of loops is reached.

p-adaptive options

Stop when Sets the global criterion to be used for indicating convergence and termination of the loops. Select from the following:

Total Strain Energy

The strain energy of the model calculated by summing the strain energy of all elements.

RMS von Mises Stress

The Root Mean Square value of the nodal von Mises stresses.

RMS Res. Displacement

The Root Mean Square value of the nodal resultant displacements.

Change is xx% or less Sets the maximum allowable relative change in the selected global criterion.
Update elements with relative Strain Energy error xx% or more Sets the maximum allowable relative error in the strain energy of each element. If none of the other two stopping criteria are met, the program will increase the polynomial order of the elements with strain energy of xx% or more.
Starting p-order Sets the element order for the first loop. The lowest order is 2 and the highest order is 5.
Maximum p-order Sets the maximum element order. The highest possible order is 5.
Maximum no. of loops Sets the maximum number of loops allowed in this analysis. The maximum possible number of loops is 4.

The program stops the loops when one of the following conditions is met:

  • The global criterion converges.
  • All local errors converge for each element.
  • The maximum number of loops is reached.
It is recommended to select the At Nodes option (from the Jacobian points menu in the Mesh Options dialog box) before meshing a model when using the p-method to solve static problems.