Coupled model- and solution-adaptivity in the finite-element method Original Research Article

Modeling of elastic thin-walled beams, plates and shells as ID- and 2D-boundary value problems is valid in undisturbed subdomains. Disturbances near supports and free edges, in the vicinity of concentrated loads and at thickness jumps cannot be described in a sufficient way by 1D- and 2D-BVPs. In these disturbed subdomains dimensional (d)-adaptivity and model (m)-adaptivity have to be performed coupled with h- and/or p-adaptivity using hierarchically expanded test spaces in order to guarantee reliable and efficient overall results. The expansion strategy is applied for enhancing the spatial dimension and the model which is more efficient and evident for engineers than the reduction method.