A NEW FAMILY OF FINITE-ELEMENTS - THE PYRAMIDAL ELEMENTS

The keystep in the successful numerical solution of problems by applic ation of the FEA is the construction of suitable finite dimensional ba sis functions and basis subspaces, Engineers have a variety of element types to choose from when constructing models for FEA, In this articl e, we present and we test a new and original element, the pyramidal el ement, that can be very practical to link meshes of different types, t hat is to say hexahedrons, tetrahedrons and prisms, This element type is unused in Finite Element packages because of its non familiar prope rty: Its non polynomial shape functions.