The use of nodal point forces to improve element stresses

We present in this paper a novel approach to stress calculations in finite element analysis. Rather than using the stress assumption employed in establishing the stiffness matrix, the element nodal point forces are used, in a simple way, to enhance the finite element stress predictions at a low computational cost. While this paper focuses on the improvement of the stress accuracy, the proposed procedure can also be used as a basis for error estimation. Moreover, the procedure is quite general, and has the potential for many applications in finite element analysis.