Automatic energy conserving space-time refinement for linear dynamic structural problems

In this paper a local space–time automatic refinement method (STAR method) is developed to efficiently solve time-dependent problems using FEM techniques. The automatic process is driven by an energy or a displacement error indicator which controls the precision of the result. The STAR method solves the numerical problem on grids with different mesh size. For the Newmark schemes, a general demonstration, using the energy method, gives the interface conditions between two successive grids which is compatible with the stability of the scheme. Finally, using a linear one-dimensional example, the convergence of the method and the precision of the results are discussed