An alternative alpha finite element method (AFEM) for free and forced structural vibration using triangular meshes

An alternative alpha finite element method (A α FEM) using triangular elements is proposed that significantly improves the accuracy of the standard triangular finite elements and provides a superconvergent solution in the energy norm for the static analysis of two-dimensional solid mechanics problems. In the A α FEM, the piecewise constant strain field of linear triangular FEM models is enhanced by additional strain terms with an adjustable parameter α which results in an effectively softer stiffness formulation compared to a linear triangular element. The element is further extended to the free and forced vibration analyses of solids. Several numerical examples show that the A α FEM achieves high reliability compared to other existing elements in the literature.