Peak Smoothing
FEM-Design defines peak smoothing regions to solve possible singularity problems. These are regions in active zones in the environment of the singularity, where the inner forces change substantially, as a result of mesh refinement.
Peak smoothing regions can be generated automatically by the mesh generator or calculation processes. Automatic generation always results in circular peak smoothing regions, with centre points placed in the location of the singularity. The radius of a circular smoothing region depends on the geometry of the singularity locations.
Singularity Problem
As an effect of the mesh refinement, the calculated results are converging to the theoretical solution. The problem is that at certain places we get infinite inner forces according to the theory, so the inner forces increase each time by refining the mesh.

These places could be: point supports, endpoints of edge supports, vertices of surface supports, endpoints of beams and columns, endpoints of intersection lines of adjoining surfaces, point loads, endpoints of line loads, vertices of surface loads etc. In practice, usually, the singularity problem occurs at supports because they heavily influence the inner forces (e.g. negative moments) in ratio.
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Calculations performed according to:
FEM-Design performs all structural calculations to Eurocode standards, with support for 15 National Annexes across Europe. Whether you’re designing in Denmark, Netherlands, Poland or the UK, FEM-Design ensures full compliance with your local requirements.
Eurocode
Belgian Annex
British Annex
Danish Annex
Dutch Annex
Estonian Annex
Finnish Annex
German Annex
Hungarian Annex
Latvian Annex
Norwegian Annex
Polish Annex
Romanian Annex
Spanish Annex
Swedish Annex
FEM-Design Wiki
For more details on the Peak Smoothing theory please visit the FEM-Design Wiki by clicking here.
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