A Serendipity cubic-displacement hybrid-stress element for thin and moderately thick plates

A hybrid-stress element is developed for the analysis of thin and moderately thick plates. The independent transverse displacement and rotations are interpolated by the 12-node cubic Serendipity shape functions. All components of stress are included and 36β stress assumption is used. The element stiffness possesses correct rank and numerical results indicate that the element does not lock in the thin-plate limit. Results obtained using the present element are compared with those obtained using a 12-node assumed-displacement based Mindlin plate element with reduced integration; the present hybrid-stress element is shown to yield superior accuracy for all cases considered. In addition, the accuracy of the present element is compared against that of analogous 4-node and 8-node hybrid-stress Mindlin plate elements.     

Hierarchic finite elements for moderately thick to very thin plates

We consider the numerical solution of Reissner-Mindlin plates. The model is widely used for thin to moderately thick plates. Generally low order finite elements (with degree one or two) are used for the approximation. Unfortunately the solution degenerates very rapidly for small thickness (locking phenomenon). Non standard formulations of the problem are usually combined with low order finite elements to weaken or possibly eliminate the locking of the numerical solution. We introduce a family of hierarchic finite elements and we present a set of numerical results for the plate problem in its plain formulation. We show that reliable solutions are achieved for all thicknesses of practical interest by using high order finite elements. Moreover, the hierarchic structure allows a low cost assessment of the quality of the solution.     

An invariant eight-node hybrid-stress element for thin and thick multilayer laminated plates

A hybrid-stress eight-node isoparametric element is developed for the analysis of thin or thick multilayer fiber-reinforced composite plates. Transverse shear deformation effects are included by allowing for individual layer cross-section warping for thick laminates, or alternatively, laminate non-normal cross-section rotations for thin to moderately thick laminates. All stress components are included and are interpolated independently within each layer. Interlayer surface traction continuity and appropriate upper/lower surface traction-free conditions are exactly satisfied. The layer stress field is selected on the basis of earlier single-layer element studies so that the resulting element is naturally invariant with respect to co-ordinate translation or rotations, is non-locking in the thin-plate limit, and the element stiffness is of correct rank. An example for which an elasticity solution is available is used to demonstrate the element performance. Schemes for reduction of element stiffness computation time are also presented.     

The hybrid-stress model for thin plates

The assumed-stress hybrid finite element model is examined for application to the bending analysis of thin plates. A hybrid-stress functional is defined by using a Mindlin-type displacement assumption and including all components of stress. The Euler equations and matrix formulation corresponding to this functional are examined to assess the effects of plate thickness, and a rationale is presented for the selection of stress assumptions so that locking is avoided in the thin plate limit. To illustrate these concepts, a series of linear displacement quadrilateral elements are derived and tested, and the best of these elements is identified for suggested implementation in general-purpose computer programs.     

Three-dimensional 8-node and 20-node refined hybrid isoparametric elements

In this paper a new hybrid variational principle with independent variables of strain, stress and displacement and with a weaker constraint condition of interelement continuity is proposed. Based on this functional, a general formulation of a refined hybrid isoparametric element method has been established by the orthogonal approach. The present formulation is a rational approach to be adopted for deriving high-performance three-dimensional hybrid isoparametric elements even up to the higher-order 20-node element. Several numerical examples are presented to show that the present elements RGH₈(8-node) and RGH₂₀(20-node) have high accuracy, excellent computational efficiency and less sensitivity to mesh distortion.     

Two hybrid elements for analysis of thick,thin and sandwich plates

Two general quadrilateral elements for plate bending are developed. Each has 12 degrees of freedom and accounts for transverse shear deformation effects. Each is built from four triangular elements whose properties are derived by the assumed-stress hybrid approach. Matrices needed to generate the stiffness properties of the triangular elements are explicitly stated so as to facilitate their use. Numerical test cases, in which shear deformation effects range from negligible to very important, are used to illustrate the behaviour of the elements. It is concluded that the simpler of the two quadrilaterals is one of the best plate elements currently available.     

Alternative reduced integration avoiding spurious modes for 8-node quadrilateral and 20-node hexahedron finite elements

Integrating the isoparametric 8-node quadrilateral and the 20-node hexahedron elements with Gauss integration based on the 3 point rule produces stiff elements. The excessive stiffness is mainly due to locking phenomenon. One remedy to partly remove locking consists in using reduced integration. Mostly, 2 × 2 or 2 × 2 × 2 integration, respectively, is employed. The lower order integration introduces spurious element modes, however. These modes may deteriorate solutions for finite element models. To overcome this drawback alternative reduced integration procedures are presented. A 5-point rule for the quadrilateral is described. 9-point and 21-point procedures are introduced for the hexahedron. The performance of these procedures is studied by some test problems.     

Stability of collapsed 8-node 2-D and 20-node 3-D isoparametric finite elements

The collapse of ordinary finite elements to generate the desired strain singularity at the crack tip for fracture mechanics applications can lead to unwanted additional singularities in that area. Although neither the quarter-point nor the half-point 8-node two-dimensional (2-D) and 20-node three-dimensional (3-D) elements exhibit this behaviour, the present article proves that arbitrarily small deviations from the quarter-point element can be constructed which do have additional singularities. Since the general behaviour of the half-point element is not affected by small modifications, this element is better suited to match complex body geometries.     

General behaviour of collapsed 8-node 2-D and 20-node 3-D isoparametric elements

This paper presents a simple and thorough technique to examine the general behaviour of two-dimensional (2-D) 8-node and 3-D 20-node isoparametric elements, collapsed at one side. With this method the conditions for the well-known quarter-point and half-point elements, frequently used in fracture mechanics applications to model the crack tip behaviour, are arrived at in a natural way. It also allows for an in-depth analysis of the Jacobian determinant, and can easily be applied to other types of elements.     

The inverse mapping and distortion measures for 8-node hexahedral isoparametric elements

The inverse relations of the isoparametric mapping for the 8-node hexahedra are derived by using the theory of geodesics in differential geometry. Such inverse relations assume the form of infinite power series in the element geodesic coordinates, which are shown to be the skew Cartesian coordinates determined by the Jacobian of the mapping evaluated at the origin. By expressing the geodesic coordinates in turn in terms of the isoparametric coordinates, the coefficients in the resulted polynomials are suggested to be the distortion parameters of the element. These distortion parameters can be used to sompletely describe the inverse relations and the determinant of the Jacobian of the mapping. The meanings of them can also be explained geometrically and mathematically. These methods of defining the distortion measures and deriving the inverse relations of the mapping are completely general, and can be applied to any other two-or three-dimensional isoparametric elements.     

Benchmark solution for free vibration of functionally graded moderately thick annular sector plates

In the present article, an exact analytical solution for free vibration analysis of a moderately thick functionally graded (FG) annular sector plate is presented. Based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory, five coupled partial differential equations of motion are obtained without any simplification. Doing some mathematical manipulations, these highly coupled equations are converted into a sixth-order and a fourth-order decoupled partial differential equation. The decoupled equation are solved analytically for an FG annular sector plate with simply supported radial edges. The accurate natural frequencies of the FG annular sector plates with nine different boundary conditions are presented for several aspect ratios, some thickness/length ratios, different sector angles, and various power law indices. The results show that variations of the thickness, aspect ratio, sector angle, and boundary condition of the FG annular sector plates can change the vibration wave number. Also for an FG annular sector plate with one free edge, in opposite to the other boundary conditions, the natural frequency decreases with increasing the aspect ratio for small aspect ratios. Moreover, the mode shape contour plots are depicted for an FG annular sector plate with various boundary conditions. The accurate natural frequencies of FG annular sector plates are presented for the first time and can serve as a benchmark solution.     

Hybrid stress reduced-Mindlin elements for thin multilayer plates

A hybrid-stress formulation of isoparametric elements for the analysis of thin multilayer laminated composite plates is presented. The element displacement behaviour is characterized by laminate reference surface inplane and transverse displacements and laminate non-normal cross-section rotations; as a result, simple C^o interpolation of displacement and rotation can be used, and the number of degrees-of-freedom is independent of the number of layers. All components of stress are included and are related to a set of laminate stress parameters, the number of which is independent of the number of layers. Attention is restricted here to thin laminates, for which it is shown that the contributions of transverse shear stress and transverse normal stress to the internal complementary energy can be neglected. As a result of this reduction, a modified stiffness-formation algorithm can be used which provides a significant improvement in computational efficiency. The formulation presented is used to develop an 8-node isoparametric thin multilayer plate element. The resulting element is naturally invariant, of correct rank, and non-locking in the thin plate limit.     

Physical shape functions in finite element analysis of moderately thick plates

A new rectangular finite element for moderately thick plates is presented. The element is based on the concept of physical shape functions, i.e. functions which contain in themselves physical and geometrical properties of the element. The analytic formulae of stiffness, geometric stiffness and mass matrices are presented for isotropic material. The element is free from locking and zero energy modes not corresponding to rigid body motions. Several examples are presented for static, initial stability and free vibration problems.     

Thermal buckling analysis of moderately thick functionally graded annular sector plates

In this article, thermal buckling analysis of moderately thick functionally graded annular sector plate is studied. The equilibrium and stability equations are derived using first order shear deformation plate theory. These equations are five highly coupled partial differential equations. By using an analytical method, the coupled stability equations are replaced by four decoupled equations. Solving the decoupled equations and satisfying the boundary conditions, the critical buckling temperature is found analytically. To this end, it is assumed that the annular sector plate is simply supported in radial edges and it has arbitrary boundary conditions along the circular edges. Thermal buckling of functionally graded annular sector plate for two types of thermal loading, uniform temperature rise and gradient through the thickness, are investigated. Finally, the effects of boundary conditions, power law index, plate thickness, annularity and sector angle on the critical buckling temperature of functionally graded annular sector plates are discussed in details.     

High order three-dimensional hybrid-stress elements for thick-plate analysis

Two alternative hybrid-stress based three-dimensional elements are presented. These elements are intended for use in the analysis of thick plates for which the through-thickness variation of displacement and stress may be of high order, and in which a single element is to be used through the thickness of the plate. For both elements, the displacement assumption allows for cubic through-thickness variation in the inplane displacements, and quadratic through-thickness variation for the transverse displacement. The elements differ in the stress assumption used. In the first element, the z variations in the stress components are chosen to be consistent with the z variations of the strain distribution calculated from the displacement assumption, and the traction boundary conditions at the upper and lower surfaces are satisfied in the weighted integral sense. In the second element, the z variations in the stress components are chosen to achieve consistency with respect to the equilibrium equations, and the traction-free conditions at the upper and lower surface of the plate are satisfied exactly. The example problem of a semi-infinite, simply-supported thick plate under transverse sinusoidal loading is considered. Results obtained by using each of these elements are compared with available elasticity and approximate solutions, and an assessment of the relative merits and range of applicability of each element is made.     

Nonlinear vibrations of thick plates using mindlin plate elements

Large amplitude vibrations of Mindlin plates are studies using Lagrangian, isoparametric, quadrilateral elements with selective integration. Square, rectangular, circular and elliptical plates with clamped and simply supported boundary conditions are considered.     

Exact solution for stability analysis of moderately thick functionally graded sector plates on elastic foundation

In this article, an exact analytical solution for buckling analysis of moderately thick functionally graded (FG) sector plates resting on Winkler elastic foundation is presented. The equilibrium equations are derived according to the first order shear deformation plate theory. Because of the coupling between the bending and stretching equilibrium equations of FG plates, these plates have deflection under in-plane loads lower than the critical buckling load acting on the mid-plane. The conditions under which FG plates remain flat in the pre-buckling configuration are investigated and the stability equations are obtained based on the flat plate assumption in the pre-buckling state. The stability equations are simplified into decoupled equations and solved analytically for plates having simply supported boundary condition on the straight edges. The critical buckling load is obtained and the effects of geometrical parameters and power law index on the stability of functionally graded sector plates are studded. The results for the critical buckling load of moderately thick functionally graded sector plates resting on elastic foundation are reported for the first time.     

Vibration of clamped moderately thick general cross-ply plates using a generalized Navier approach

A hitherto unavailable analytical solution to the free vibration problem of general cross-ply laminated rigidly clamped rectangular plates, incorporating first-order shear deformation, and rotatory and in-plane inertias into the formulation, is presented. A recently developed boundary continuous displacement-based generalized Navier solution technique is used to solve the five highly coupled linear second-order partial differential equations with constant coefficients, and the associated geometric boundary conditions. The assumed solution functions are in the form of double Fourier series, which satisfy the rigidly clamped boundary conditions a priori in a manner similar to the conventional Navier method. Convergence characteristics of the natural frequencies of both symmetric and antisymmetric cross-ply plates are numerically established. Other numerical results presented herein include (i) comparison with the corresponding available first-order shear deformation theory-based Galerkin and classical lamination theory-based boundary-discontinuous analytical solutions, and (ii) study of the effects of thickness and aspect ratio on the natural frequencies.     

A new 12 DOF quadrilateral element for analysis of thick and thin plates

This paper presents a simple quadrilateral 12 DOF plate bending element based on a modified version of the hybrid-Trefftz approach. This element makes use of two independent fields of generalized displacements:

• i a non-conforming field (11 Trefftz terms for transverse displacement w and the corresponding rotations Θ_x, Θ_y) satisfying the governing differential equations of Reissner-Mindlin theory;
• ii an auxiliary conforming field with displacements w? linked to rotations $ \tilde \Theta _x,\tilde \Theta _y$, by the requirement of constant boundary distribution of the corresponding tangential component S?_t, of the transverse shear. This allows quadratic w? and linear $ \tilde \Theta _x,\tilde \Theta _y $, at the element boundary to be obtained with only 3 DOF at the corner nodes.

The resulting element, denoted by Q?21–11, is robust and free of shear locking in the thin limit. The numerical assessment involves comparison with several recently presented 12 DOF thick plate quadrilaterals as well as with the standard 16 DOF hybrid-Trefftz quadrilateral, Q21-15S, with 15 Trefftz terms and independently interpolated w? and $ \tilde \Theta _x,\tilde \Theta _y $.     

A new nine DOF triangular element for analysis of thick and thin plates

A simple triangular 9 DOF plate bending element for analysis of thick and thin plate is presented in this paper. This element is constructed by the following procedure: (i) the variation functions of the rotation and shear strain along each side of the element are determined using Timoshenko's beam theory; and (ii) the rotation, curvature and shear strain fields in the domain of the element are then determined using the technique of improved interpolation. The proposed element, denoted by ARS-T9, is robust and free of shear locking and, thus, it can be employed to analyze very thin plate. Numerical examples show that the proposed element is a high performance element for thick and thin plates. Received 24 May 1999