A simple average nodal pressure tetrahedral element for incompressible and nearly incompressible dynamic explicit applications

This paper presents a simple linear tetrahedron element that can be used in explicit dynamics applications involving nearly incompressible materials or incompressible materials modelled using a penalty formulation. The element prevents volumetric locking by defining nodal volumes and evaluating average nodal pressures in terms of these volumes. Two well-known examples relating to the impact of elasto–plastic bars are used to demonstrate the ability of the element to model large isochoric strains without locking. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.