ON THE RELATIVE MERITS OF 3-POINT INTEGRATION RULES FOR 6-NODE TRIANGLES

There exist two three-point integration rules for triangular elements. Both rules are precise up to the second order and used for evaluating the six-node triangles. While one of rules has its sampling stations inside the triangle, that of the other coincide with the edge nodes. T hough the former is commonly employed, it will be seen in this short p aper that latter is indeed more favourable in view of element accuracy . (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.