Element type

Pros

first-order plane strain,

generalized plane strain,
axisymmetric quadrilateral,
hexahedral solid elements,
and cylindrical elements

strain operator provides

constant volumetric strain
throughout the element. This
constant strain prevents mesh
locking when the material
response is approximately
incompressible

first-order, fully integrated

elements (CPS4, CPE4,
C3D8, etc.) that are subjected
to bending

Shear locking. Therefore,

these elements are too stiff in
bending, in particular if the
element length is of the same
order of magnitude as or
greater than the wall
thickness
become much less accurate
when they are initially
distorted
perform better if their shape
is approximately rectangular
are usually overly stiff, and
extremely fine meshes are
required to obtain accurate
results

first-order quadrilaterals and

hexahedra

First-order triangles and

tetrahedra

Second-order elements

second-order, fully integrated

elements
Second-order reducedintegration elements

Cons

provide higher accuracy than

first-order
They capture stress
concentrations more
effectively
are better for modeling
geometric features: they can
model a curved surface with
fewer elements
second-order elements are
very effective in bendingdominated problems
close to stress concentrations
to capture the severe gradients
in these regions

generally yield more accurate

results than the corresponding
fully integrated elements
second-order reduceddo not have the same
integration elements, with the difficulty and are

severe element distortions

affect the accuracy

avoid these elements in

regions of finite strain if the
material response is nearly
incompressible

exception of the 27-node

C3D27R and C3D27RH
elements
Fully integrated elements
fully integrated elements
when the material behavior is
(almost) incompressible =
rubber
first-order, fully integrated
quadrilaterals and hexahedra
triangles or tetrahedra
second-order and modified
triangular and tetrahedral
elements
regular second-order
triangular and tetrahedral
elements

Quadrilaterals and hexahedra

triangles and tetrahedra

Modified triangular and
tetrahedral elements

recommended in all cases

when the solution is expected
to be smooth
do not hourglass

but may suffer from

locking behavior: both
shear and volumetric locking
Volumetric locking

these elements do not lock

with almost incompressible
materials
Triangular and tetrahedral
elements
suitable for general usage
may exhibit volumetric
locking when
incompressibility is
approached such as in
problems with a large amount
of plastic deformation
have a better convergence rate
than triangles and tetrahedra,
and sensitivity to mesh
orientation in regular meshes
is not an issue
less sensitive to initial
element shape
provides improved
performance over the firstorder triangular and
tetrahedral elements and
occasionally provides
improved behavior to regular
second-order triangular and
tetrahedral elements.work
well in contact, exhibit
minimal shear and volumetric
locking, and are robust during
finite deformation
hybrid versions of these
elements are provided in

incompatible with the regular

second-order solid elements
in Abaqus/Standard. Thus,
they should not be connected
with these elements in a mesh
are more expensive
computationally than lowerorder quadrilaterals and
hexahedron
In areas of high stress
gradients, stresses
extrapolated from the
integration points to the
nodes are not as accurate for

Hybrid elements

All of the quadrilateral and

brick elements except for the
fully integrated quadrilateral
and brick elements without
the hybrid formulation:
CPE8, CPEG8, CAX8,
CGAX8, and C3D20

Abaqus/Standard for use with

incompressible and nearly
incompressible constitutive
models
must be used if the material is
fully incompressible (except
in the case of plane stress
since the incompressibility
constraint can be satisfied by
adjusting the thickness)
For Mises and Hill plasticity
the plastic deformation is
fully incompressible;
therefore, the rate of total
deformation becomes
incompressible as the plastic
deformation starts to
dominate the response. They
can handle this rateincompressibility condition
For nearly incompressible
materials a displaced shape
plot that shows a more or less
homogeneous but nonphysical
pattern of deformation is an
indication of mesh locking

hybrid elements

C3D10I tetrahedron

the modified elements as for

similar second-order triangles
and tetrahedra in
Abaqus/Standard
almost incompressible,
elastic-plastic materials and
for compressible materials,
hybrid elements offer
insufficient advantage and,
hence, should not be used

hybrid elements are not

recommended for use with
anisotropic materials unless
the material is approximately
incompressible
for improved bending results
in coarse meshes while
avoiding pressure locking in
metal plasticity and quasiincompressible and
incompressible rubber
elasticity
Internal pressure degrees of
freedom are activated
automatically for a given
element once the material
exhibits behavior approaching
the incompressible limit
This unique feature of
C3D10I elements make it

Incompatible mode elements

(CPS4I, CPE4I, CAX4I,
CPEG4I, and C3D8I and the
corresponding hybrid
elements

The incompatible mode

elements

especially suitable for

modeling metal plasticity,
since it activates the pressure
degrees of freedom only in
the regions of the model
where the material is
incompressible
Once the internal degrees of
freedom are activated,
C3D10I elements have more
internal variables than either
hybrid or nonhybrid elements
and, thus, are more expensive.
This element also uses a
unique 11-point integration
scheme, providing a superior
stress visualization scheme in
coarse meshes as it avoids
errors due to the extrapolation
of stress components from the
integration points to the nodes
first-order elements that are
enhanced by incompatible
modes to improve their
bending behavior
The primary effect of these
modes is to eliminate the
parasitic shear stresses that
cause the response of the
regular first-order
displacement elements to be
too stiff in bending. In
addition, these modes
eliminate the artificial
stiffening due to Poisson's
effect in bending (which is
manifested in regular
displacement elements by a
linear variation of the stress
perpendicular to the bending
direction).
can give very accurate results should be used with caution
in problems dominated by
in applications involving
bending
large compressive strains
inaccuracies may accumulate
in hyperelastic applications

C3D10M

in analyses with large

amounts of plastic
deformation

first-order quadrilateral or
hexahedral elements or the
modified triangular and
tetrahedral elements

for problems involving large

distortions
If the mesh distortion is
severe, use reducedintegration, first-order
elements.
the problem involves bending
and large distortions
must be used if the material is
fully incompressible (except
when using plane stress
elements). Hybrid elements
should also be used in some
cases with nearly
incompressible materials.

fine mesh of first-order,

reduced-integration elements
Hybrid elements