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Theory Manual
This manual provides detailed information about the theory used in the Altair Radioss Solver.
Large Displacement Finite Element Analysis Theory Manual
Element Library
Radioss element library contains elements for one, two or three dimensional problems.
Shell Elements

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What's New
View new features for Radioss 2024.
Overview
Radioss^® is a leading explicit finite element solver for crash and impact simulation.
Tutorials
Discover Radioss functionality with interactive tutorials.
User Guide
This manual provides details on the features, functionality, and simulation methods available in Altair Radioss.
Reference Guide
This manual provides a detailed list of all the input keywords and options available in Radioss.
Example Guide
This manual presents examples solved using Radioss with regard to common problem types.
Verification Problems
This manual presents solved verification models.
Frequently Asked Questions
This section provides quick responses to typical and frequently asked questions regarding Radioss.
Theory Manual
This manual provides detailed information about the theory used in the Altair Radioss Solver.
- Large Displacement Finite Element Analysis Theory Manual
  - Introduction
    Nonlinear finite element analyses confront users with many choices. An understanding of the fundamental concepts of nonlinear finite element analysis is necessary if you do not want to use the finite element program as a black box. The purpose of this manual is to describe the numerical methods included in Radioss.
  - Basic Equations
  - Finite Element Formulation
  - Dynamic Analysis
  - Element Library
    Radioss element library contains elements for one, two or three dimensional problems.
    - Solid Hexahedron Elements
    - Solid Tetrahedron Elements
    - Shell Elements
      - Shell Elements Overview
        The historical shell element in Radioss is a simple bilinear Mindlin plate element coupled with a reduced integration scheme using one integration point. It is applicable in a reliable manner to both thin and moderately thick shells.
      - Bilinear Mindlin Plate Element
      - Stability Time Step
      - Local Reference Frame
      - Bilinear Shape Functions
      - Mechanical Properties
      - Internal Forces
      - Hourglass Modes
      - Hourglass Resistance
      - Stress and Strain Calculation
        The stress and strain for a shell element can be written in vector notation. Each component is a stress or strain feature of the element.
      - Forces and Moments Calculation
      - Shell Formulations
      - 3-Node Shell Elements
      - Composite Shell Elements
      - 3-Node Triangle without Rotational DOF
    - Solid-Shell Elements
    - Truss Elements (TYPE2)
    - Beam Elements (TYPE3)
    - One Degree of Freedom Spring Elements (TYPE4)
    - General Spring Elements (TYPE8)
    - Pulley Type Spring Elements (TYPE12)
    - Beam Type Spring Elements (TYPE13)
    - Integrated Beam Elements (TYPE 18)
      Beam type /PROP/TYPE18 uses a shear beam theory or Timoshenko formulation like /PROP/TYPE3, but the section inputs (area, inertia) can be default values and can also be discretized by sub-sections; numerical integrations are used to calculate internal forces.
    - Multistrand Elements (TYPE28)
      Multistrand elements are n-node springs where matter is assumed to slide through the nodes.
    - Spring Type Pretensioners (TYPE32)
  - Kinematic Constraints
    Kinematic constraints are boundary conditions that are placed on nodal velocities. They are mutually exclusive for each degree of freedom (DOF), and there can only be one constraint per DOF.
  - Linear Stability
    The stability of solution concerns the evolution of a process subjected to small perturbations. A process is considered to be stable if small perturbations of initial data result in small changes in the solution. The theory of stability can be applied to a variety of computational problems.
  - Interfaces
    Interfaces solve the contact and impact conditions between two parts of a model.
  - Material Laws
    A large variety of materials is used in the structural components and must be modeled in stress analysis problems. For any kind of these materials a range of constitutive laws is available to describe by a mathematical approach the behavior of the material.
  - Monitored Volume
    An airbag is defined as a monitored volume. A monitored volume is defined as having one or more 3 or 4 node shell property sets.
  - Static
    Explicit scheme is generally used for time integration in Radioss, in which velocities and displacements are obtained by direct integration of nodal accelerations.
  - Radioss Parallelization
    The performance criterion in the computation was always an essential point in the architectural conception of Radioss. At first, the program has been largely optimized for the vectored super-calculators like CRAY. Then, a first parallel version SMP made possible the exploration of shared memory on processors.
- ALE, CFD and SPH Theory Manual
- Appendix A: Basic Relations of Elasticity
User Subroutines
This manual describes the interface between Altair Radioss and user subroutines.

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Shell Elements

Since the degenerated continuum shell element formulation was introduced by Ahmad et al. ^¹, it has become dominant in commercial Finite Element codes due to its advantage of being independent of any particular shell theory, versatile and cost effective, and applicable in a reliable manner to both thin and thick shells.

In the standard 4-node shell element, full integration and reduced integration schemes have been used to compute the stiffness matrices and force vectors:

The full integration scheme is often used in programs for static or dynamic problems with implicit time integration. It presents no problem for stability, but sometimes involves "locking" and computations are often more expensive.
The reduced integration scheme, especially with one-point quadrature (in the mid-surface), is widely used in programs with explicit time integration such as Radioss and other programs applied essentially in crashworthiness studies. These elements dramatically decrease the computation time, and are very competitive if the hourglass modes (which result from the reduced integration scheme) are "well" stabilized.

¹ Ahmad S., Irons B.M., and Zienkiewicz O.C., Analysis of thick and thin shell structures by curved finite elements, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2:419-451, 1970.