I need to model the effect of vertical cracks in a concrete cylinder (pre-cast spun concrete pile) subject to predominantly axial load. I have the pile modelled with shell elements - is there a way that i can disconnect an element from its neighbour? Or is such a discontinuity beyond the ability of an FE model to converge on an answer? Would i literally have to model a gap with associated mesh refinement at the ends of the gap?
Many thanks.
Hi @daniel.peel,
Just thoughts: in Robot a user cannot edit FE, e.g. add a node and redefine the definition of the existing FE by substituting the new node instead of the existing one. You can try to run a macro and convert each FE in your model to the shell object and then edit geometry (like creating a gap between panels) to model the crack.
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Roman Zhelezniak
Robot Evangelist & Passionate Civil Structural Engineer
