Finite volume for stress analysis upon polygonal, unstructured and non conforming meshes

Abstract

Within this paper we discuss a numerical strategy to solve the elasticity problem upon unstructured and non conforming meshes, allowing all kinds of flat-faced elements (polygons in 2D and polyhedra in 3D). The core of the formulation relies on two numerical procedures 1) the Control Volume Function Approximation (CVFA), and 2) the polynomial interpolation in the neighborhood of the control volumes, which is used to solve the surface integrals resulting from applying the divergence theorem. By comparing the estimated stress against the analytical stress field of the well known test of an infinite plate with a hole, we show that this conservative approach is robust and accurate.