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The C3D20 element is a general purpose quadratic brick element (3x3x3 integration points). The shape functions can be found in  [39]. The node numbering follows the convention of Figure 52 and the integration scheme is given in Figure 53.
Figure 52:
20-node brick element
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Figure 53:
3x3x3 integration point scheme in hexahedral elements
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This is an excellent element for linear elastic calculations. Due to the location of the integration points, stress concentrations at the surface of a structure are well captured. However, for nonlinear calculations the elements exhibits the same disadvantages as the C3D8 element, albeit to a much lesser extent:
- due to the full integration, the element will behave badly for isochoric material behavior, i.e. for high values of Poisson's coefficient or plastic behavior.
- the element tends to be too stiff in bending, e.g. for slender beams or thin plates under bending. [80].
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
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guido dhondt
2016-07-31