A modified Zienkiewicz-Zhu error estimator

A new error measure for a static finite element analysis is proposed. This error measure is a modification to the Zienkiewicz and Zhu energy norm. The new error estimator is a global error measure for the analysis and is independent of finite element model size and internal stresses, hence it is readily transportable to other error calculations. It is shown in this paper the the new error estimator also produces conservative error measurements, making it a suitable procedure to adopt in commerical packages.