NEW ADVANCES ON A-POSTERIORI ERROR ON CONSTITUTIVE RELATION IN FE ANALYSIS

This paper deals with error estimators based on residuals on the const itutive relation which have been developed for the past 20 years at Ca chan. Especially in the case of elasticity, these error estimators can become poor in situations where the material and the mesh are strongl y anisotropic. The crucial point herein is the construction of equilib rated stress fields from the computed finite element solution. Therefo re, in this paper, the approach and in particular this last point are re-examined. Several important modifications are introduced in the con cepts and basic techniques. Hence, a new generation of error estimator s which seem to be extremely robust upon initial applications has been generated.