Comput Mech (2005) 36: 331–342
DOI 10.1007/s00466-004-0625-6
ORIGINAL PAPER
Y. X. Zhang
K. S. Kim
Linear and Geometrically nonlinear analysis of plates and shells
by a new refined non-conforming triangular plate/shell element
Received: 17 June 2003 / Accepted: 31 August 2004 / Published online: 6 July 2005
Ó Springer-Verlag 2005
Abstract A refined non-conforming triangular plate/
shell element for linear and geometrically nonlinear
analysis of plates and shells is developed in this paper
based on the refined non-conforming element method
(RNEM). A conforming triangle membrane element with
drilling degrees of freedom in Cartesian coordinates and
the refined non-conforming triangular plate-bending
element RT9, in which Kirchhoff kinematic assumption
was adopted, are used to construct the present element.
The displacement continuity condition along the inter-
element boundary is satisfied in an average sense for plate
analysis, and the coupled displacement continuity
requirement at the interelement is satisfied in an average
sense, thereby improving the performance of the element
for shell analysis. Selectively reduced integration with
stabilization scheme is employed in this paper to avoid
membrane locking. Numerical examples demonstrate
that the present element behaves quite satisfactorily
either for the linear analysis of plate bending problems
and plane problems or for the geometrically nonlinear
analysis of thin plates and shells with large displacement,
moderate rotation but small strain.
Keywords Refined non-conforming triangular plate/
shell element
Refined non-conforming element
method
Displacement continuity condition
Coupled
displacement continuity requirement
1 Introduction
The wide application of plate/shell structures in engi-
neering has been aspiring numerous researchers to
Y. X. Zhang
K. S. Kim
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Pohang University of Science and Technology,
Pohang, 790-784, South Korea
Tel.: 82-54-2795890
Fax: 82-54-2795899
E-mail: zhangyxss@yahoo.com, zhangyx@postech.ac.kr
develop simple and efficient plate/shell elements for lin-
ear and geometrically nonlinear analysis of plate and
shell structures.
Among different kinds of shell elements such as a flat
shell element, a curved shell element and a degenerated
three-dimensional solid element, the flat shell element
enjoys a good popularity in the applications because of
its simplicity and low cost in computation despite its
deficiencies [1].
Generally, flat shell elements must possess capabili-
ties of bending and stretching deformation. Triangular
elements are more popular than quadrilateral elements
because of the convenience in modeling curved shell
structures.
A large number of triangular plate/shell elements
have been developed for linear and geometrically non-
linear analysis. Among these, the membrane behavior of
some elements was represented by CST or LST plane
element, therefore only five degrees of freedom are
needed at each node. Such elements include the ones by
Argyris et al. [2], Horrigmoe and Bergan [3], Bathe and
Ho [4], Hsiao [5], Talbot and Dhatt [6], Fafard et al. [7],
Chen [8], Peric and Owen [9], Peng and Crisfield [10],
Meek and Tan [11], Meek and Ristic [12].
The absence of in-plane rotational degrees of freedom
leads to a singularity for coplanar elements. One of the
approaches to circumvent the singularity is to use a
membrane element with rotational degrees of freedom.
The existence of an in-plane rotational degree of freedom
at every node is convenient in engineering applications in
respect that the membrane response can be improved and
the sensitivity to element distortion can be reduced [13].
Bergan and Nygard [14] developed a triangular flat
thin shell element with in-plane rotational degrees of
freedom based on the free-formulation theory. Oral and
Barut [15] introduced a three-node flat shell element by
combining the plate-bending element of Tessler and
Hughes [16] and the plane stress element with vertex
rotations developed by Allman [17]. A generalized con-
forming three-node flat shell element with drilling
332

degrees of freedom was developed by Zhang et al. [18], 2.1 A conforming triangular membrane
and a triangular flat shell element based on a plate element with drilling degrees of freedom in
bending element with semiLoof constraint was proposed Cartesian coordinates
by Chen et al. [19] for linear and geometrically nonlinear
thin-thick analysis of plates and shells. In addition, there A 6-node triangular membrane element with only two
also exist some triangular flat shell elements [20–22], translational degrees of freedom at each node and a typ-
which have been developed especially for laminated ical 3-node triangular membrane element with three de-
plates and shells. grees of freedom at each node are shown in Figure 1.
The refined non-conforming element method The introduction of the drilling degrees of freedom can
(RNEM) was established by Chen and Cheung [23–24] not only improve the performance of the element, but also
to improve the performance of the non-conforming avoid the singularity when the element is used to construct
elements. In their work, the interelement displacement flat plate/shell elements. Furthermore, the drilling degrees
continuity was enforced in an average sense, which re- of freedom make the assembly of elements and transfor-
sulted in not only better convergence of the solution but mation of coordinates easy and convenient. The element
also improvement of its accuracy. The efficiency of the can be merged into commercial programs without diffi-
RNEM has been manifested in analyses of static, dy- culty.
namic, stability and geometrically nonlinear problems
[23, 25–31].
In this paper, a new refined non-conforming trian- 2.1.1 Stiffness matrix of the 6-noded triangular
gular plate/flat shell element is developed based on the membrane element
conforming triangle membrane element with drilling
degrees of freedom in Cartesian coordinates [32] and the The conforming displacement function of the 6-node
refined non-conforming triangular plate-bending ele- element (Figure 1a) can be assumed as
ment RT9 [23], in which the traditional Kirchhoff theory

u
was assumed, for nonlinear analysis of plates and shells. ¼ X b; ð1Þ
In particular, the coupled displacement constraint v
method proposed by Chen and Cheung [33] is employed where
to ensure convergence and improve accuracy of the
2

present element for thin shell analysis. Membrane X ¼ 1 0 x 0 y 0 xy 0 x 0 y2 0
;
locking is avoided in the proposed element due to the 0 1 0 x 0 y 0 xy 0 x2 0 y 2
application of stabilization scheme. Numerical examples ð2Þ
demonstrate that for both linear and geometrically
T
nonlinear analysis of thin plates/shells with large dis- b ¼ ½ a1 b1 a2 b2 a3 b3 a4 b4 a5 b5 a6 b6  : ð3Þ
placement but small strain, the present element gives Substituting the displacements and relevant coordinates
satisfactory estimates for the structural deformation of nodes into the above equation, we can obtain
behavior.
b ¼ A1 q; ð4Þ
where
2 A refined non-conforming triangular plate/shell element
A ¼ ½ A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6  T ð5Þ


From the RNEM method for linear [23] and geometrically 1 0 xi 0 yi 0 xi yi 0 x2i 0 yi2 0
nonlinear [24] analysis, it is concluded that the process of Ai ¼ ; ð6Þ
0 1 0 xi 0 yi 0 xi yi 0 x2i 0 yi2
constructing the refined non-conforming element is al-
most the same as that of constructing the general con- and
forming displacement elements except that the strains in q ¼ ½ u v u v u v u v u v u v T : ð7Þ
1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6
the refined non-conforming element should be refined.
The development of a new refined nonconforming So the plane displacement function can be written as:
element is outlined in what follows.

u
¼ Nq; ð8Þ
v

Fig. 1 A 6-node triangular

membrane element and a 3-node
triangular membrane element
with drilling freedom
 333

where The 9 by 9 stiffness matrix k 0 of the triangular membrane

element with drilling degrees of freedom can be formu-
N ¼ XA1 ; ð9Þ
lated from that of the 6-node element through the fol-
in which A1 is the inverse matrix of the matrix A. lowing transformation:
From the conforming displacement function, the strain
k0 ¼ T T keT : ð17Þ
matrix can be obtained as follows:
B6 ¼ QA1 ; ð10Þ
and 2.1.3 Strain matrix of the triangular membrane
2 3 element with drilling degrees of freedom
0 0 1 0 0 0 y 0 2x 0 0 0
Q ¼ 40 0 0 0 0 1 0 x 0 0 0 2y 5:
The plane displacement function of a triangular mem-
0 0 0 1 1 0 x y 0 2x 2y 0
brane element with drilling degrees of freedom can be
ð11Þ written as


The stiffness matrix of 6-node triangular membrane u
¼ XA1 Tqð3Þ : ð18Þ
e
element k can be obtained easily using (10). v
The strain matrix of the membrane element can be
obtained from
2.1.2 Stiffness matrix of the triangular membrane
element with drilling degrees of freedom Bm ¼ B6 T : ð19Þ

The translations at the mid-point of the edge (Figure 1b)

can be substituted by the corner node displacements 2.2 The refined non-conforming triangular
according to Cook [34]. Taking the midpoint 4 of 1–2 plate-bending element RT9
edge as an example, the displacement can be written as
2.2.1 Refined non-conforming displacement function
1 1 y2  y1 of RT9 element
u4 ¼ u1 þ u2 þ ðhz2  hz1 Þ;
2 2 8
1 1 x1  x2 The refined non-conforming displacement of the element
v4 ¼ v1 þ v2 þ ðhz2  hz1 Þ: ð12Þ
2 2 8 RT9, which satisfies the C1 continuity requirement of
In the same way, similar expressions for the midpoints 5, displacements in an average sense, is given by
h i  
6 can be obtained. Thus it can be shown that 2
w ¼ w þ x2 y2 xy2 ðBc  B0 Þ qeb ;
2
ð20Þ
q ¼ Tqð3Þ ; ð13Þ
in which w is the displacement function of the triangular
where q is the nodal displacement vector of the 6-node plate-bending element BCIZ, i.e.
triangular element with translations only and
X
3 X
3 X
3
qð3Þ ¼ ½ u1 v1 hz1 u2 v2 hz2 u3 v3 hz3 T : ð14Þ w¼ Fi wi þ Fxi hxi þ Fyi hyi ; ð21Þ
i¼1 i¼1 i¼1
The transformation matrix T can be written as
2 3 where
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
60 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 owi owi
6 7 hxi ¼ ; hyi ¼  ; ð22Þ
60 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 oy ox
6 7
60 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 7 and
6 7
60 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7
6 7 F1 ¼ L1 þ L21 L2 þ L21 L3  L1 L22  L1 L23 ;
60 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7
T ¼66 1 0 b1
7; ð15Þ
62 1
1
2 0 b1 0 0 0 77 Fy1 ¼ ðc3 L21 L2  c2 L21 L3 þ ðc3  c2 ÞL1 L2 L3 =2Þ;
60 a1 0 12 a1 0 0 0 7
6 2 7 Fx1 ¼ b3 L21 L2 þ b2 L21 L3  ðb3  b2 ÞL1 L2 L3 =2; ð23Þ
60 0 0 1
0 b2 1
0 b2 7
6 2 2 7
60 0 0 0 12 a2 0 12 a2 7 where Li ði ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ is the area coordinates of a trian-
61 7
4 0 b3 0 0 0 1
0 b3 5 gular element, and
2 2
0 12 a3 0 0 0 0 12 a3 b1 ¼ y2  y3 ; c1 ¼ x3  x2 : ð24Þ
where By cycling the indices, Fi ; Fxi ; Fyi ; bi ; ci can be obtained
x2  x1 x3  x 2 x1  x3 for i ¼ 2; 3. In equation (20),
a1 ¼ ; a2 ¼ ; a3 ¼
8 8 8 fqeb g ¼ f qb1 qb2 qb3 gT ;
y1  y2 y2  y3 y3  y1  T
b1 ¼ ; b2 ¼ ; b3 ¼ : ð16Þ
8 8 8 fqbi g ¼ wi hxi hyi ð25Þ
334

2.2.2 Refined strain matrix of RT9 element Numerical examples of linear static analysis of plates
have demonstrated that best results can be obtained with
From the refined non-conforming displacement, the re- k ¼ 0:25 [23]. For the details of RT9 element, the readers
fined element strain matrix Bb can be obtained as can refer to the reference [23].
2 2  3
o dw
ox2
6 o2 dw
7
deb ¼ 6
4 oy 2
7 ¼ B fdqe g;
5 b b ð26Þ 2.3 Stiffness matrix of the flat plate/shell element for
o2 dw
linear analysis of plane and plate-bending problems
2 oxoy
For the general linear analysis of plate and plane prob-
Bb ¼ Bb þ Bc  B0 ; ð27Þ
lems, the linear stiffness matrix is given by
Z
fdqeb g ¼ f dqb1 dqb2 dqb3 gT ;
 T
e
k ¼ BT D Bdv ð36Þ
fdqbi g ¼ dwi dhxi dhyi ; ð28Þ ve

2 2 3 in which
o w


6 ox2 7 Z Bm 0 Dm 0
6 2 7   1 B¼ ; D ¼ ; ð37Þ
6 o w
oy 2 7 ¼ Bb qeb ; B0 ¼ Bb dxdy; 0 Bb 0 Db
4 5 D Ae
2
o w
2 oxoy where Bm is the strain matrix of a triangular membrane
Z element with drilling degrees of freedom shown
D¼ dxdy: ð29Þ in equation (19), Bb is the refined strain matrix of the
Ae element RT9 expressed by equation (27), and
The matrix Bc can be expressed as t3
  Dm ¼ tD; Db ¼ D;
Bc ¼ B0c þ k B0c  Bc ; ð30Þ 2 12 3
1 m 0
in which B0c is given by E 6 7
 0 D¼ 4 m 1 0 5; ð38Þ
Bc ¼ ½ B0c1 B0c2 B0c3 ; ð31Þ 1  m2
0 0 1m
2

2 2 2
 3
l1 m1  l3 m3 l12x12 þ l3 x231 =2
 ðl21 y21 þ l23 y13 Þ=2
1
B0c1 ¼ 4 l3m3  l1 m1 m12 x12 þ m23 x31 =2 ðm21 y21 þ m23 y13 Þ=2 5; ð32Þ
D
2 m21  m23 m1 y21 þ m3 y13 ðl21 x12 þ l23 x31 Þ

and in which t, E,t is the thickness, Young’s modulus and

where Poisson’s ratio, respectively, of the structures.
y21 x12
l1 ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; m1 ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ;
x212 þ y21 2 x212 þ y21 2
2.4 Formulations of the flat plate/shell element
y13 x31 for shell analysis
l3 ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; m3 ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ;
x213 þ y13 2 x213 þ y13 2
The flat plate/shell element is the combination of a
y21 ¼ y2  y1 ; x12 ¼ x1  x2 ; membrane element and a plate-bending element. In
y13 ¼ y1  y3 ; x31 ¼ x3  x1 ; ð33Þ order to guarantee convergence, the membrane dis-
placements u and v must satisfy the C0 continuity con-
and xi , yi (i=1, 2, 3) are the nodal coordinates.
dition, and the deflection w for bending strain needs to
By cyclic permutation, the expression for the matrices
satisfy the C1 continuity condition. The membrane dis-
B0c2 ; B0c3 can be obtained.
placements u and v in the above membrane element are
The matrix Bc can be expressed as
  C0 continuous, and the C1 continuity requirement of the
Bc ¼ ½ Bc1 Bc2 Bc3 ; ð34Þ bending displacement of RT9 can be satisfied in an
average sense by the RNEM. However, when the flat
in which shell element is used to analyze shell structures, the
" #
1 0 0 y23 continuity conditions mentioned above will not be suf-
Bc1¼ 0 x32 0 : ð35Þ ficient to ensure convergence. This results from the fact
2D 0 y x
23 32 that the displacement components, which are of different
In the same way, the matrix Bc can be formed through order at the interelement boundary are coupled after
cyclic permutation. rotation of the coordinates. To ensure the convergence
In equation (30), k is an adjustable constant which and to improve the accuracy of the element, a coupled
can be used to improve the accuracy of the element. continuity condition at the interelement boundary has
 335

been proposed by Chen and Cheung [33]. A refined qe ¼ ½ q1 q2 q3 T ; ð45Þ

nonconforming triangular element [33] and quadrilateral
elements [35] were developed successfully based on the where
coupled continuity condition. qi ¼ ½ ui vi wi hxi hyi hzi T : ð46Þ
In equation (41), u~ ; v~ ; w
~  ; ow
~  =ox ; ow
~  =oy  ; o~
u =oy  are
2.4.1. Refined non-conforming displacements
the displacements on the common boundary between
of the flat plate/shell element for shell analysis
elements. The details about the derivation of the strain
matrix Bc can be found in reference [33, 35]
Employing the coupled weak continuity condition
between the membrane and transverse displacements at
the interelement boundary of non-coplanar elements in
2.4.2. Refined non-conforming strain matrix of the flat
shell analysis [33,35], the refined non-conforming dis-
plate/shell element for shell analysis
placements for the present element can be written as:
8 9 8 9
< u
= < u = The refined strain of the element can be represented as
v
¼ v þ P ðBc Qe  B0 qe Þ; ð39Þ 8 o
u 9
: ; : ; >
> >
>


w w > ox >
>
> >
>
in which u and v are the displacement functions of the >
> o
v >
>
>
> oy >
>
triangular plane element with drilling degrees of freedom >
> >
>
>
> v>
expressed by equation (18), w is the displacement func- < oy þ ox >
o

u o

=
tion of the triangular plate-bending element BCIZ e¼ 2
>
> o w
>
expressed by equations (21)–(25), >
> ox2 > >
>
2 3 >
> >
>
>
>
2
>
> oy 2 >
o

w
x 0 y=2 0 0 0 > >
>
>
> >
P ¼ 4 0 y x=2 0 0 0 5; ð40Þ > o2 w
>
: >
2 2 2 oxoy ;
0 0 0 x =2 y =2 xy=2
¼ ðB  B0 Þqe þ Bc Qe ¼ ððB  B0 ÞT
þ Bc ÞQe ð47Þ

2 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 3
l2 l
lm l m

6
6I u~ 4 m2 l
5 þ v~ 4 lm 5  w ~  4 m2 m
5 7
7
1 6
2 2 7
Bc Qe ¼ 6 2 2 2lm3 l 2 l m 3 2 2lmm
3 7ds ð41Þ
D @ve 6
6 l l ml
l mm
7
7
4 ~ 4 2 5
@ w
m ~ 4
@ w
þ @y  l ml
5 @ u
~
þ @y  4

l mm 5 5
@x
2 2
2 2
ðl  m Þm
2l m ðl  m Þl

8 ou 9 2 3
> > T1
>
> ox >
>
>
> >
> 6 T1 7
>
>
ov >
> 6 7
>
> oy >
> 6 7
>
> >
> 6 T1 7
Z >
< oy þ ox >
ou ov
= T
¼ 6 7; ð48Þ
6 T1 7
D¼ dxdy; Bqe ¼ ; 6 7
Ae >
>
2
o w >
> 4 T1 5
>
> ox2 >
>
>
> 2 >
> T1
>
> o w >
>
>
> oy 2 >
>
>
> >
> in which T1 is the coordinate transformation matrix
: o w 2 ;
2 oxoy between the local and global coordinate systems.
Z The refined non-conforming strain matrix of the
1
B0 ¼ Bdxdy; ð42Þ refined element is given by
D Ae
B ¼ ðB  B0 ÞT
þ Bc : ð49Þ
where Ae is the element area, Qe is the vector of element
nodal displacements in the global coordinates. Qe can be The phenomenon of membrane locking may occur when
expressed as follows: the 3-node 18-d.o.f. triangular flat shell element is used
for analysis of some shell problems. In order to avoid
Qe ¼ ½ Q1 Q2 Q3 T ; ð43Þ
this, reduced one-point integration [36] is used for the
in which membrane deformation. The alternative simple stabil-
ization scheme and the reduced higher-order strain
Qi ¼ ½ Ui Vi Wi hXi hYi hZi T ; ð44Þ
matrix method proposed by Chen and Cheung [33] was
e
and q is the vector of element nodal displacements in employed in this paper to eliminate the extra zero energy
the local coordinates and it can be written as mode caused by the one-point integration.
336

The components of the element linear stiffness matrix

3 Updated Lagrangian formulation of the flat plate/shell can be written as
element for geometrically nonlinear analysis
" e #
K0mij 0
e
Updated Lagrangian formulation is often employed for K0ij ¼ e
; ð56Þ
geometrically nonlinear analysis of shells. 0 K0bij
Z
e
K0mij ¼ BTmi Dm Bmj dA;
3.1 Green strain increment and constitutive relation Ae
of the flat shell element Z
e
K0bij ¼ BTbi Db Bbj dA; Bbi ¼ Bbi ; ð57Þ
Ae
Employing the Kirchhoff theory and the Von-Karman
assumption, the Green strain increment De of a flat shell in which Bmi is a component of the strain matrix of the
element can be expressed as: triangular membrane element expressed by equation (19)
fDeg ¼ fDeg þ fDgg; ð50Þ and Bbi is a component of the refined strain matrix of
RT9 element given by equation (27).
where The component of the element geometric stiffness
fDeg ¼ fDem g þ zfD^
vg; ð51Þ matrix is given by,
8 9

8 oDu 9 o2 Dw 0 0
> > >
>  2 >
> e
Krij ¼ ; ð58Þ
>
> ox >
> >
>
ox >
> e
0 Krbij
< = < 2
=
oDv o Dw
fDem g ¼ oy ; f v
D^ g ¼  oy 2 >
>
> >
> >
> > where
>
: oDu oDv > ; >
> >
> Z

þ : o2 Dw ; t
Nx t
Nxy
oy ox 2 oxoy
e
Krbij ¼ GTi ½t N Gj dA; t
N¼ ; ð59Þ
t t
8  2 9 Ae Nxy Ny
>
>
1 oDw >
> and matrix G can be obtained from the following
>
> 2 ox >
>
>
<
2 > = equation:
fDgg ¼ 12 oDw ð52Þ ( )
>
> oy >
> oDw  
>
> >
> ox
¼ G Dqeb : ð60Þ
>
: oDw oDw > ; oDw
ox oy oy

The constitutive relation between the Green strain In equation (55), tþDt P e is the external load vector,
increment and the second Piola-Kirchhoff stress incre- and a component of internal force vector t Rei can be
ment DS is given by written as
fDS g ¼ DðfDeg þ fDggÞ ð53Þ t e
t e  R
Ri ¼ t mi ; ð61Þ
For large displacement, large rotation, but small strain Rebi
analysis, a simple linear elastic material description is
in which
widely used [37]. The linearized form of the constitutive Z Z
relation between the Green strain increment and the t e  t 
Rmi ¼ BTmi ft N gdA; Rebi ¼ BTbi ft MgdA; ð62Þ
second Piola-Kirchhoff stress increment is: Ae Ae
t T
fDS g ¼ DfDeg: ð54Þ ft N g ¼ Nx t
Ny t
Nxy
t T
ft Mg ¼ Mx t
My t
Mxy :
3.2 Incremental finite element equilibrium equation fDqe g is the nodal increment of the displacement
for flat shell elements vector of flat shell elements. For triangular flat shell
elements,
The incremental finite element equation of the flat shell
element in the local system can be written as fDqe g ¼ f Dq1 Dq2 Dq3 gT ;
 e   
½K0  þ ½Kre  fDqe g ¼ tþDt P e  ft Re g: ð55Þ fDqi g ¼ f Dqmi Dqbi gT : ð63Þ
For the geometrically nonlinear analysis of plates, the For the geometrically nonlinear analysis of shells, the
flat plate/shell element is a direct combination of the refined flat plate/shell element with a coupled weak
membrane element and plate-bending element. An out- continuity condition between the membrane and bend-
line formulation of the finite element equation is given in ing displacements is used. The components in the finite
the following: element equation can be expressed as
 337
Z " # 


Dm 0 DN Dm 0 Bm 0 Dqem
e
K0ij ¼ BT Bi dA0t ¼ : ð73Þ
i DM 0 Db 0 Bb Dqeb
Ae 0 Db
Z " t
# For the refined flat shell element for geometrically
N nonlinear analysis of shells, we have
e T
Ri ¼ Bi dA; ð64Þ 

t
Ae M DN Dm 0
¼ B fDQe g: ð74Þ
in which Bi is the component of the refined strain matrix DM 0 Db
of the refined flat shell element given by equation (49).
The combination of the first order and the second
order interpolations for displacement is used here to 4 Numerical examples
define the displacement function and to compute w;x ; w;y
in the geometric matrix. Details are as follows: The computed results for all the following numerical
The combined displacement can be written as examples are obtained from the commercial finite ele-
w¼w
^  b ðw
^w

Þ; ð65Þ ment program ABAQUS 6.2 by introducing the present
element into the program as a user element. Computed
where results from the ABAQUS element STRI3 [38], which is
X
3 a 3-node, 18-d.o.f. triangular flat shell element, are

¼
w L i wi ; ð66Þ compared with those obtained from the present element
i¼1 to evaluate its accuracy. Bending problems of thin
and plates and a typical Cook’s membrane problem are
( ) computed using the present element to examine the
oDw^ 3

X 
ox 0 Li 0 bending and membrane response of the present ele-
oDw^ ¼ fDqbi g; ð67Þ ment. The numerical examples also include a linear
oy i¼1
0 0 Li
analysis of a cylindrical shell, a nonlinear analysis of
in which Li ði ¼ 1; 2; 3Þ is an area coordinate of the tri- thin plates and a post-buckling analysis of a thin
angular element. Thus it is obtained that cylindrical shell.

 It should be noted that different interpolation
G01
G¼ ¼ ½ G1 G2 G3 ; ð68Þ schemes are adopted for the in-plane and transverse
G02 displacements, and this may cause severe problems in
" # fully nonlinear analysis. Therefore, some care must be
bLi;x ð1  bÞLi;x 0 taken with the increment size.
Gi ¼ ; ð69Þ
bLi;y 0 ð1  bÞLi;y
4.1 Linear analysis of a simply supported square
where b is a control parameter. It is found that b ¼ 0:9 plate and a clamped square plate under a
gives best results for all the numerical examples. It point load at center
should be noted, however, that satisfactory results could
be obtained even with b ¼ 0:0. The deflections of a square thin plate with simply sup-
In the calculation of the element internal force vector ported and clamped boundary conditions under a unit
and the geometric stiffness matrix, the element stress point load at center are calculated using different me-
state should be determined beforehand. shes.
The stress resultant at the updated configuration is: The geometric data employed are: the length of the
 tþ1  t 
N N DN square plate 1.0m; the thickness 0.01m; the elastic mod-
tþ1 ¼ t þ : ð70Þ ulus E=105 N/m2 ; Poisson’s ratio 0.25. Because of
M M DM
symmetry, only a quarter of the plate is used for numerical
For geometrically nonlinear analysis of plates, if a analysis.
nonlinear constitutive relation is used, the stress incre- The center deflections of the simply supported
ment can be expressed as square plate computed by STRI3, a 3-node triangular


 e plate bending element DKT [39], which is based on
DN Dm 0 Bm 12 AG Dqm
¼ ; ð71Þ discrete Kirchhoff assumption, and the present element
DM 0 Db 0 Bb Dqeb
with mesh A and mesh B, which are shown in Figure 2,
where are listed in Table 1. The computed center deflections of
2 oDw 3 2 3 the clamped square plate with mesh A are listed in
ox 0 G01 Dqeb 0 Table 2.
6 oDw 7 4
A¼4 0 oy 5 ¼ 0 G02 Dqeb 5: ð72Þ The computed results show that the present element
oDw oDw G e
02 Dqb G01 Dqeb can give more accurate estimates than the STRI3 and
oy ox
DKT elements for bending problems of thin plates.
If a linearized constitutive relation is used, the stress Mesh A provides better results than mesh B in the
increment is given by foregoing analyses. Therefore, mesh A is used in the
338

following numerical examples for discretization of

the structures.

4.2 Tip deflection of Cook’s membrane

A typical Cook’s membrane (shown in Figure 3 with a

4  4 mesh) is computed here to test the membrane
Fig. 2 Mesh A and Mesh B response of the present element. The material data are
E ¼ 1:0; t ¼ 1=3 . The theoretical solution for the tip
deflection is 23.90 [40]. The computed results from the
Table 1 The center deflection of a simply supported square plate
present element, STRI3 element, and a typical standard 4-
under a unit point load at center node quadrilateral plane isoparametric element Q4, with
different mesh are listed in Table 3. The results show that
Element 44 66 88 1010 1212 the present element can give much better estimates of the
STRI3
response of membrane than the other elements.
Mesh B )1.350 )1.327 )1.318 )1.314 )1.312
Mesh A )1.310 )1.307 )1.307 )1.306 )1.306 4.3 Geometrically nonlinear analysis of a clamped
DKT
Mesh B )1.317 — )1.361 — —
circular plate subjected to a concentrated
Mesh A )1.308 — )1.306 — — load at center
Present
element The large deformation analysis of a clamped circular
Mesh B )1.328 )1.317 )1.312 )1.310 )1.309 plate subjected to a concentrated load at center is con-
Mesh A )1.300 )1.303 )1.304 )1.304 )1.305
Theoretical sidered in this example. The geometry and material data
solution [25] )1.305 are: Young’s Modulus E ¼ 107 , Poisson’s ratio t ¼ 0:3,
radius R=100, thickness t=2. A quarter of the plate is
modeled because of symmetry, and a typical 24-element
mesh shown in Figure 4 is used.
The calculated nondimensional center deflection w=t(w
Table 2 The center deflection of a clamped square plate under a
unit point load at center (Mesh A) is the center deflection) based on the nonlinear constitu-
tive relation, equation (53) and the simplified linear con-
Element Mesh
Table 3 Tip deflections of Cook’s membrane
44 66 88 1010 1212
Element 44 66 88 1010
STRI3 )0.6419 )0.6366 )0.6345 )0.6335 )0.6329
DKT )0.6422 —- )0.6347 —- —- STRI3 11.47 15.14 17.73 19.50
Present )0.6290 )0.6302 )0.6307 )0.6309 )0.6310 Q4 21.55 — —- —-
element Present element 21.73 23.15 23.79 24.15
Theoretical )0.6314 Theoretical
solution [25] solution [40] 23.90

Fig. 3 A typical Cook’s mem-

brane and a 4  4 mesh
 339

Fig. 4 One-quarter of a circular plate and 24 mesh discretization

stitutive relation, equation (54) from the present element

are listed in Table 4 in comparison with the analytical Fig. 5 Load-deflection curve of a clamped circular plate under a point
solution, the results from STRI3 element and 12 QS ele- load at center
ment [41], which is an eight-node quadrilateral serendipity
element based on Mindlin theory for geometric nonlinear
Table 5 Nondimensional central deflection w/t of a clamped cir-
analysis of plate with moderate rotation. The relation cular plate subjected to a uniformly distributed load q
between the dimensionless deflection w=t and load
obtained from the present element and analytical solution qR4 Analytical 12-QS 24-DKT 24 present elements
are plotted in Figure 5. Et4 [44]
Linear Nonlinear
relation relation

1 0.169 0.161 0.172 0.171 0.171

4.4 Geometrically nonlinear analysis of a clamped 2 0.323 0.312 0.330 0.337 0.333
circular plate subjected to a uniformly 3 0.457 0.445 0.470 0.486 0.475
6 0.761 0.757 0.791 0.820 0.796
distributed load 10 1.035 1.042 1.082 1.112 1.084
15 1.279 1.295 1.342 1.368 1.339
The large deformation analysis of the above clamped
circular plate subjected to a uniformly distributed load q
is considered in this example. The calculated nondi- 4.5 Linear analysis of a thin cylindrical shell
mensional center deflections w=t from the present ele- with free ends
ment, together with the analytical solution, and those
from 12 QS element [41] and 24 DKT [43] element, The radial displacements at point load of a cylinder
which is a triangular plate element based on discrete (shown in Figure 7) with free ends are computed for
Krichhoff assumption are summarized in Table 5. The two values of thickness. The results from the present
load-deflection relationship obtained from the present element with different meshes are compared with ana-
element with linear and nonlinear constitutive relation lytical solutions, and the results obtained from STRI3
are compared with the analytical solution in Figure 6. element and RSQ24 [35] element, which is a refined

Table 4 Nondimensional center qR4

deflection w=t of a clamped qR4 Analytical 12 Et4
STRI3 24 present elements
circular plate subjected to a Et4 Solution QS [41]
concentrated load q at the center [42]
of the plate Nonlinear Linear
relation relation

1 0.213 0.204 1 0.214 0.210 0.213

2 0.405 0.391 2 0.409 0.40 0.412
3 0.570 0.553 3.5 0.654 0.64 0.665
4 0.710 0.693 5.75 0.936 0.915 0.96
5 0.831 0.815 9.13 1.249 1.225 1.28
6 0.937 0.924 10.0 1.316 1.29 1.345
340

Table 6 Load point deflection of the cylindrical shell (t=0.094

inch)

Element 44 66 88 1010 1212

STRI3 )0.1071 )0.1105 )0.1119 )0.1126 )0.1129

RSQ24 )0.1086 )0.1118 )0.1121 —- —-
Present )0.1102 )0.1125 )0.1133 )0.1135 )0.1137
element
Analytical )0.1139
solution [45]

From Table 6 and 7, it is obvious that the accuracy of

the present element is much higher than that of STR13
and RSQ24 element.

4.6 Linear analysis of a hemispherical shell

A hemispherical shell with an 18-degree hole at the top is

often used to demonstrate the accuracy of the shell ele-
Fig. 6 Load-deflection curve of a clamped circular plate under a
uniformly distributed load q
ments. The radius of the shell is R=10, thickness is
t=0.04, Young’s modulus is E=6.825e7, Poission’s
ratio is m ¼ 0:3. A quarter of the hemispherical shell is
shown in Fig. 8. The top and bottom circumferential
edges of the hemisphere are free and the shell is sub-
jected to two radial unit point loads. The radial dis-
placement at point A from different mesh is compared
with the theoretical solution uA =0.094 [46] in Table 8. It
can be seen that no membrane locking takes place in this
problem for the present element.

4.7 Post-bucking analysis of a hinged cylindrical

shell subjected to a point load at center

A circular cylindrical shell subjected to a central point

nonconforming 4-node, 24-dof quadrilateral flat shell
element based on Kirchhoff theory, in Table 6 and
Table 7.
load on the convex side shown in Figure 9 is studied in
this example. The geometric data and the material
properties are also shown in Figure 9. The longitudinal
boundaries are hinged and immovable, and the curved
edges are completely free. In consideration of symmetry,
only a quarter of the cylindrical shell is studied. The
load-deflection curves at the load point are shown in

Table 7 Load point deflection

of cylindrical shell (t=0.01548 Element 44 66 88 1010 1212
inch)
STRI3 )0.02351 )0.02405 )0.02426 )0.02437 )0.02443
RSQ24 )0.02377 )0.02397 )0.02380 —- —-
Present element )0.02408 )0.02441 )0.02455 )0.02460 )0.02466
Analytical [45] )0.02439

Table 8 The radial displace-

ment at point A of the hemi- Element 44 88 1010 1212
spherical shell
DKT15 [33] 9.356e)2 9.305e)2 9.277e)2 9.259e)2
RSQ24 0.1068 0.0936 —- —-
Present element 9.129e)2 9.561e)2 9.513e)2 9.467e)2
Analytical Solution [46] 0.094

Fig. 8 A quarter of a hemispherical shell with an 18-degree hole on
the top
Fig. 9 A circular cylindrical shell subjected to a point load at center
Figure 10 for the present element and STRI3 with a
4  4 mesh. It is evident that the present element can
give satisfactory prediction for post-buckling behavior
of the cylinderical shell.
5 Conclusions
In this paper, a refined non-conforming triangular flat
plate/shell element has been developed for linear and
geometrically nonlinear analysis. The element has the
following advantages:
1) The implementation of drilling degrees of freedom
enables the element to circumvent the singularity in
the matrix of coplanar elements.
341
Fig. 10 Load-displacement relationship of a cylindrical shell at the
load point
2) The accuracy of the membrane element is improved
by the introduction of the drilling degrees of freedom,
which also improves the accuracy of the flat shell
element.
3) The refined non-conforming finite element method in
conjunction with the weakly coupled continuity con-
dition for shells gives rise to continuity of displace-
ments along the interelement boundary.
4) Numerical examples of linear and geometrically
nonlinear analysis of plates, linear analysis of plane
problems, linear and geometrically nonlinear analysis
of shells have been carried out. The present element is
found to yield quite satisfactory results.
5) The success of the present flat plate/shell element
provides a further demonstration of the efficiency of
the triangular membrane element with drilling
degrees of freedom constructed in Cartesian coordi-
nate [32].
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