Adaptive exponential finite elements for the shear boundary layer in the bearing channel during extrusion Original Research Article

This paper presents the application of new special finite elements for modelling the flow shear boundary layer in the bearing channel during extrusion processes. The shape functions in the special elements account for an exponential nature of the velocity field in the boundary layer and are directly controlled by both process and material parameters. They are also functions of the elementʹs characteristic height. This makes the new special elements adaptive to both process and mesh style. The special elements are implemented and used to treat the case of a 2-dimensional extrusion problem. The special elements show superior performance without the substantial refinement otherwise needed when standard elements are used.