Four‐node semi‐EAS element in six‐field nonlinear theory of shells

We propose a new four‐node C⁰ finite element for shell structures undergoing unlimited translations and rotations. The considerations concern the general six‐field theory of shells with asymmetric strain measures in geometrically nonlinear static problems. The shell kinematics is of the two‐dimensional Cosserat continuum type and is described by two independent fields: the vector field for translations and the proper orthogonal tensor field for rotations. All three rotational parameters are treated here as independent. Hence, as a consequence of the shell theory, the proposed element has naturally six engineering degrees of freedom at each node, with the so‐called drilling rotation. This property makes the element suitable for analysis of shell structures containing folds, branches or intersections. To avoid locking phenomena we use the enhanced assumed strain (EAS) concept. We derive and linearize the modified Hu–Washizu principle for six‐field theory of shells. What makes the present approach original is the combination of EAS method with asymmetric membrane strain measures. Based on literature, we propose new enhancing field and specify the transformation matrix that accounts for the lack of symmetry. To gain knowledge about the suitability of this field for asymmetric strain measures and to assess the performance of the element, we solve typical benchmark examples with smooth geometry and examples involving orthogonal intersections of shell branches. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A triangular finite shell element based on a fully nonlinear shell formulation

This work presents a fully nonlinear six-parameter (3 displacements and 3 rotations) shell model for finite deformations together with a triangular shell finite element for the solution of the resulting static boundary value problem. Our approach defines energetically conjugated generalized cross-sectional stresses and strains, incorporating first-order shear deformations for an inextensible shell director (no thickness change). Finite rotations are treated by the Euler–Rodrigues formula in a very convenient way, and alternative parameterizations are also discussed herein. Condensation of the three-dimensional finite strain constitutive equations is performed by applying a mathematically consistent plane stress condition, which does not destroy the symmetry of the linearized weak form. The results are general and can be easily extended to inelastic shells once a stress integration scheme within a time step is at hand. A special displacement-based triangular shell element with 6 nodes is furthermore introduced. The element has a nonconforming linear rotation field and a compatible quadratic interpolation scheme for the displacements. Locking is not observed as the performance of the element is assessed by several numerical examples, which also illustrate the robustness of our formulation. We believe that the combination of reliable triangular shell elements with powerful mesh generators is an excellent tool for nonlinear finite element analysis.Fellowship funding from FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa), together with the material support and stimulating discussions in IBNM (Institut für Baumechanik und Numerische Mechanik), are gratefully acknowledged in this work.     

A robust non‐linear mixed hybrid quadrilateral shell element

In the paper a non‐linear quadrilateral shell element for the analysis of thin structures is presented. The variational formulation is based on a Hu–Washizu functional with independent displacement, stress and strain fields. The interpolation matrices for the mid‐surface displacements and rotations as well as for the stress resultants and strains are specified. Restrictions on the interpolation functions concerning fulfillment of the patch test and stability are derived. The developed mixed hybrid shell element possesses the correct rank and fulfills the in‐plane and bending patch test. Using Newton's method the finite element approximation of the stationary condition is iteratively solved. Our formulation can accommodate arbitrary non‐linear material models for finite deformations. In the examples we present results for isotropic plasticity at finite rotations and small strains as well as bifurcation problems and post‐buckling response. The essential feature of the new element is the robustness in the equilibrium iterations. It allows very large load steps in comparison to other element formulations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient co‐rotational formulation for curved triangular shell element

A 6‐node curved triangular shell element formulation based on a co‐rotational framework is proposed to solve large‐displacement and large‐rotation problems, in which part of the rigid‐body translations and all rigid‐body rotations in the global co‐ordinate system are excluded in calculating the element strain energy. Thus, an element‐independent formulation is achieved. Besides three translational displacement variables, two components of the mid‐surface normal vector at each node are defined as vectorial rotational variables; these two additional variables render all nodal variables additive in an incremental solution procedure. To alleviate the membrane and shear locking phenomena, the membrane strains and the out‐of‐plane shear strains are replaced with assumed strains in calculating the element strain energy. The strategy used in the mixed interpolation of tensorial components approach is employed in defining the assumed strains. The internal force vector and the element tangent stiffness matrix are obtained from calculating directly the first derivative and second derivative of the element strain energy with respect to the nodal variables, respectively. Different from most other existing co‐rotational element formulations, all nodal variables in the present curved triangular shell formulation are commutative in calculating the second derivative of the strain energy; as a result, the element tangent stiffness matrix is symmetric and is updated by using the total values of the nodal variables in an incremental solution procedure. Such update procedure is advantageous in solving dynamic problems. Finally, several elastic plate and shell problems are solved to demonstrate the reliability, efficiency, and convergence of the present formulation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convergence of curved shell elements based on assumed covariant strain interpolations

A C⁰ 9-node shell element based on assumed interpolations of covariant strain components defined with respect to the element natural co-ordinate system has recently been proposed. In this formulation, the covariant strains are obtained directly from the Cartesian strains by tensor transformation without any need to compute laminar co-ordinate based strains. In the present work, the interpolated covariant strains used in this element are analysed to determine their satisfaction of the basic requirements for successful strain interpolation. These basic requirements are stated as invariance to rigid body motions and ability to represent constant and linear strain states. In the finite element formulation, the weak form of momentum balance is expressed in terms of covariant strains and contravariant stresses. The corresponding elasticity tensor is a function of the components of the metric tensor associated with the element natural co-ordinate system. The invariance properties of the metric tensor in the context of the finite element approximation are also discussed.     

A mixed shell formulation accounting for thickness strains and finite strain 3d material models

A non‐linear quadrilateral shell element for the analysis of thin structures is presented. The Reissner–Mindlin theory with inextensible director vector is used to develop a three‐field variational formulation with independent displacements, stress resultants and shell strains. The interpolation of the independent shell strains consists of two parts. The first part corresponds to the interpolation of the stress resultants. Within the second part independent thickness strains are considered. This allows incorporation of arbitrary non‐linear 3d constitutive equations without further modifications. The developed mixed hybrid shell element possesses the correct rank and fulfills the in‐plane and bending patch test. The essential feature of the new element is the robustness in the equilibrium iterations. It allows very large load steps in comparison with other element formulations. We present results for finite strain elasticity, inelasticity, bifurcation and post‐buckling problems. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fully nonlinear multi-parameter shell model with thickness variation and a triangular shell finite element

This work presents a fully nonlinear multi-parameter shell formulation together with a triangular shell finite element for the solution of static boundary value problems. Our approach accounts for thickness variation as additional nodal DOFs, using a director theory with a standard Reissner-Mindlin kinematical assumption. Finite rotations are exactly treated by the Euler-Rodrigues formula in a pure Lagrangean framework, and elastic constitutive equations are consistently derived from fully three-dimensional finite strain constitutive models. The corresponding 6-node triangular shell element is presented as a generalization of the T6-3i triangle introduced by the authors in [3].Fellowship funding from FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa), together with the material support and stimulating discussions in IBNM (Institut für Baumechanik und Numerische Mechanik), are gratefully acknowledged in this work.Received December 2003     

A four-node solid shell element formulation with assumed strain

A set of four-node shell element models based on the assumed strain formulation is considered here. The formulation allows for changes in the shell thickness. As a result, the kinematics of deformation are described by purely vectorial variables, without using rotational angles. The present study investigates the use of bubble function displacements and the assumed strain field. Careful selection of the assumed strain terms generates an element whose order of numerical integration does not increase even when the bubble function displacements are added. Results for the four-node element without any bubble function terms show sensitivity to element distortion. Use of the bubble functions with a carefully chosen assumed strain field greatly improves element performance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An isogeometric locking‐free NURBS‐based solid‐shell element for geometrically nonlinear analysis

In this work, we develop an isogeometric non‐uniform rational B‐spline (NURBS)‐based solid‐shell element for the geometrically nonlinear static analysis of elastic shell structures. A single layer of continuous 3D elements through the thickness of the shell is considered, and the order of approximation in that direction is chosen to be equal to two. A complete 3D constitutive relation is assumed. The objective is to develop a highly accurate low‐order element for coarse meshes. We propose an extension of the mixed method of Bouclier et al. [11] to deal with locking in the context of large rotations and large displacements. The main idea is to modify the interpolation of the average through the thickness of the stress components. It is also necessary to stabilize the element in order to avoid the occurrence of spurious zero‐energy modes. This was achieved, for the quadratic version, through the adjunction of artificial elementary stabilization stiffnesses. The result is an element of order 2, which is at least as accurate as standard NURBS shell elements of order 4. Linear and nonlinear test calculations have been carried out along with comparisons with other published NURBS and classical techniques in order to assess the performance of the element. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An assumed strain triangular curved solid shell element formulation for analysis of plates and shells undergoing finite rotations

A formulation for 36‐DOF assumed strain triangular solid shell element is developed for efficient analysis of plates and shells undergoing finite rotations. Higher order deformation modes described by the bubble function displacements are added to the assumed displacement field. The assumed strain field is carefully selected to alleviate locking effect. The resulting element shows little effect of membrane locking as well as shear locking, hence, it allows modelling of curved shell structures with curved elements. The kinematics of the present formulation is purely vectorial with only three translational degrees of freedom per node. Accordingly, the present element is free of small angle assumptions, and thus it allows large load increments in the geometrically non‐linear analysis. Various numerical examples demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the present formulation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A two‐node curved axisymmetric shell element based on coupled displacement field

An efficient two‐node curved axisymmetric shell element is proposed. The element with three degrees of freedom per node accounts for the transverse shear flexibility and rotary inertia. The strain components are defined in a curvilinear co‐ordinate frame. The variation of normal displacement (w) along the meridian is represented by a cubic polynomial. The relevant constitutive relations and the differential equations of equilibrium in the meridional plane of the shell are used to derive the polynomial field for the tangential displacement (u) and section rotation (θ). This results in interdependent polynomials for the field variables w, u and θ, whose coefficients are coupled by generalized degrees of freedom and geometric and material properties of the element. These coupled polynomials lead to consistently vanishing coefficients for the membrane and transverse shear strain fields even in the limit of extreme thinness, without producing any spurious constraints. Thus the element is devoid of membrane and shear locking in thin limit of inextensible and shearless bending, respectively. Full Gaussian integration rules are employed for evaluating stiffness marix, consistent load vector and consistent mass matrix. Numerical results are presented for axisymmetric deep/shallow shells having curved/straight meridional geometries for static and free vibration analyses. The accuracy and convergence characteristics of this C⁰ element are superior to other elements of the same class. The performance of the element demonstrates its applicability over a wide range of axisymmetric shell configurations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of shear locking‐free shell elements using an enhanced assumed strain formulation

The degenerated approach for shell elements of Ahmad and co‐workers is revisited in this paper. To avoid transverse shear locking effects in four‐node bilinear elements, an alternative formulation based on the enhanced assumed strain (EAS) method of Simo and Rifai is proposed directed towards the transverse shear terms of the strain field. In the first part of the work the analysis of the null transverse shear strain subspace for the degenerated element and also for the selective reduced integration (SRI) and assumed natural strain (ANS) formulations is carried out. Locking effects are then justified by the inability of the null transverse shear strain subspace, implicitly defined by a given finite element, to properly reproduce the required displacement patterns. Illustrating the proposed approach, a remarkably simple single‐element test is described where ANS formulation fails to converge to the correct results, being characterized by the same performance as the degenerated shell element. The adequate enhancement of the null transverse shear strain subspace is provided by the EAS method, enforcing Kirchhoff hypothesis for low thickness values and leading to a framework for the development of shear‐locking‐free shell elements. Numerical linear elastic tests show improved results obtained with the proposed formulation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A simple triangular element for thick and thin plate and shell analysis

A new plate triangle based on Reissner–Mindlin plate theory is proposed. The element has a standard linear deflection field and an incompatible linear rotation field expressed in terms of the mid-side rotations. Locking is avoided by introducing an assumed linear shear strain field based on the tangential shear strains at the mid-sides. The element is free of spurious modes, satisfies the patch test and behaves correctly for thick and thin plate and shell situations. The element degenerates in an explicit manner to a simple discrete Kirchhoff form.     

Exact geometry four-node solid-shell element for stress analysis of functionally graded shell structures via advanced SaS formulation

Abstract

The exact geometry four-node solid-shell element formulation using the sampling surfaces (SaS) method is developed. The SaS formulation is based on choosing inside the shell N not equally spaced SaS parallel to the middle surface in order to introduce the displacements of these surfaces as basic shell unknowns. Such choice of unknowns with the use of Lagrange basis polynomials of degree N???1 in the through-thickness interpolations of displacements, strains, stresses and material properties leads to a very compact form of the SaS shell formulation. The SaS are located at Chebyshev polynomial nodes that make possible to minimize uniformly the error due to Lagrange interpolation. To implement efficient 3D analytical integration, the extended assumed natural strain method is employed. As a result, the proposed hybrid-mixed solid-shell element exhibits a superior performance in the case of coarse meshes. To circumvent shear and membrane locking, the assumed stress and strain approximations are utilized in the framework of the mixed Hu-Washizu variational formulation. It can be recommended for the 3D stress analysis of thick and thin doubly-curved functionally graded shells because the SaS formulation with only Chebyshev polynomial nodes allows the obtaining of numerical solutions, which asymptotically approach the 3D solutions of elasticity as the number of SaS tends to infinity.     

Mixed shell element for seven‐parameter formulation

A new mixed shell element is developed for a seven‐parameter formulation in this paper. The mixed shell element is constructed by assuming stress field and displacement field together. Assumed stress field and assumed displacement field can be combined by stress–strain relationship with Hu‐Washizu functional. The developed mixed shell element can provide more flexible stiffness than other commercial softwares. Additionally, seven‐parameter shell formulation is used instead of Reissner/Mindlin formulation, since it can provide the thickness change. Even though some commercial engineering software are not proper for very thick shell structure, the developed mixed shell element for seven‐parameter formulation can be used without distinction of thick shell and thin shell. An example of shell models with different thickness is provided with solid model. Static and modal analyses are also performed for verification. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient isostatic mixed shell element for coarse mesh solution

A novel mixed shell finite element (FE) is presented. The element is obtained from the Hellinger–Reissner variational principle and it is based on an elastic solution of the generalized stress field, which is ruled by the minimum number of variables. As such, the new FE is isostatic because the number of stress parameters is equal to the number of kinematical parameters minus the number of rigid body motions. We name this new FE MISS-8. MISS-8 has generalized displacements and rotations interpolated along its contour and drilling rotation is also considered as degree of freedom. The element is integrated exactly on its contour, it does not suffer from rank defectiveness and it is locking-free. Furthermore, it is efficient for recovering both stress and displacement fields when coarse meshes are used. The numerical investigation on its performance confirms the suitability, accuracy, and efficiency to recover elastic solutions of thick- and thin-walled beam-like structures. Numerical results obtained with the proposed FE are also compared with those obtained with isogeometric high-performance solutions. Finally, numerical results show a rate of convergence between h² and h⁴ .     

An improved solid‐shell element based on ANS and EAS concepts

This paper presents an eight‐node nonlinear solid‐shell element for static problems. The main goal of this work is to develop a solid‐shell formulation with improved membrane response compared with the previous solid‐shell element (MOS2013), presented in 1 . Assumed natural strain concept is implemented to account for the transverse shear and thickness strains to circumvent the curvature thickness and transverse shear locking problems. The enhanced assumed strain approach based on the Hu–Washizu variational principle with six enhanced assumed strain degrees of freedom is applied. Five extra degrees of freedom are applied on the in‐plane strains to improve the membrane response and one on the thickness strain to alleviate the volumetric and Poisson's thickness locking problems. The ensuing element performs well in both in‐plane and out‐of‐plane responses, besides the simplicity of implementation. The element formulation yields exact solutions for both the membrane and bending patch tests. The formulation is extended to the geometrically nonlinear regime using the corotational approach, explained in 2 . Numerical results from benchmarks show the robustness of the formulation in geometrically linear and nonlinear problems. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assumed strain stabilization procedure for the 9-node Lagrange shell element

An assumed strain (strain interpolation) method is used to construct a stabilization matrix for the 9-node shell element. The stabilization procedure can be justified based on the Hellinger–Reissner variational method. It involves a projection vector which is orthogonal to both linear and quadratic fields in the local co-ordinate system of each quadrature point. All terms in the development involve 2 × 2 quadrature in the 9-node element. Example problems show good accuracy and an almost optimal rate of convergence.