LAUSR

Abstract In this paper, an adaptive refinement technique using the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) is proposed. The salient feature of this technique is that it is not required to regenerate the mesh for the whole model during the iterations. To this end, a local mesh refinement strategy is implemented based on a polytree algorithm in three dimensions, which can be applied to polyhedral elements with arbitrary number of nodes, edges and faces. These elements constructed by the SBFEM can be used in analysis with their boundaries discretized only, which reduce the difficulty to connect elements with different sizes. An explicit residual based error indicator is developed using the discontinuity of the stress field to guide the adaptive mesh refinement. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are demonstrated using five numerical examples, including complex geometry and stress singularity.