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Fifteen-node wedge element (C3D15)

This is a general purpose wedge element (9 integration points). The shape functions can be found in [1]. The node numbering follows the convention of Figure 24.

Figure 24: 15-node wedge element
\begin{figure}\epsfig{file=C3D15.eps,width=10cm}\end{figure}

The element behaves very well and is a good general purpose element, although the C3D20R element yields still better results for the same number of degrees of freedom. The wedge element is often used as fill element in ``automatic'' hexahedral meshers.



guido dhondt 2006-02-19