A mixed shear flexible finite element for the analysis of laminated plates

A mixed shear flexible finite element based on the Hencky-Mindlin type shear deformation theory of laminated plates is presented and their behavior in bending is investigated. The element consists of three displacements, two rotations, and three moments as the generalized degrees of freedom per node. The numerical convergence and accuracy characteristics of the element are investigated by comparing the finite element solutions with the exact solutions. The present study shows that reduced-order integration of the stiffness coefficients due to shear is necessary to obtain accurate results for thin plates.     

Optimum weight design of composite laminated plates

Optimum designs for the minimum weight of composite laminated plates subjected to size, displacement, buckling and natural frequency constraints are investigated by a technique of combining finite element method and mathematical programming, in which the structural analysis is based on the YNS theory. The recurrence relation based on the feasible direction method (FDM) and the scaling step is used to modify the design variables (ply-thicknesses and ply-orientations) during the iterative procedure. Grouping technique is engaged in the procedure in order that the number of design variables can be greatly reduced to make the problem more practical. Illustrative examples are given to show that the present technique is quite efficient and reliable.     

Mixed finite element methods — Reduced and selective integration techniques: A unification of concepts

The equivalence of certain classes of mixed finite element methods with displacement methods which employ reduced and selective integration techniques is established. This enables one to obtain the accuracy of the mixed formulation without incurring the additional computational expense engendered by the auxiliary field of the mixed method. Applications and numerical examples are presented for problems with constraints which can be difficult to enforce in finite element approximations and have often dictated the use of mixed principles. These include thin beams and plates, and linear and nonlinear incompressible and nearly incompressible continuum problems in solid and fluid mechanics.     

Optimum configurational and dimensional design of truss structures

The feasibility of simultaneous optimization of member sizing and structural configuration of truss structures is demonstrated. The structural analysis is treated by the finite element displacement method and the optimization accomplished by the steepest descent method. Inequality constraints including limitations on both state variables (stress and displacement) and design variables (element cross sectional areas and nodal point placement) are included.The computational results show that in the presence of displacement constraints, the configuration of the optimum design sometimes differs considerably from the fully stressed design. The techniques can be extended to other structures such as beams, frames, plates, etc. and to include the possibility of Euler buckling.     

A three-dimensional nonlinear analysis of cross-ply rectangular composite plates

The results of a three-dimensional, geometrically nonlinear, finite-element analysis of the bending of cross-ply laminated anisotropie composite plates are presented. Individual laminae are assumed to be homogeneous, orthotropic and linearly elastic. A fully three-dimensional isoparametric finite element with eight nodes (i.e. linear element) and 24 degrees of freedom (three displacement components per node) is used to model the laminated plate. The finite element results of the linear analysis are found to agree very well with the exact solutions of cross-ply laminated rectangular plates under sinusiodal loading. The finite element results of the three-dimensional, geometrically nonlinear analysis are compared with those obtained by using a shear deformable, geometrically nonlinear, plate theory. It is found that the deflections predicted by the shear deformable plate theory are in fair agreement with those predicted by three-dimensional elasticity theory; however stresses were found to be not in good agreement     

基于Cosserat理论的平面等参元

为解释材料在微尺度下的尺度效应,基于Cosserat理论,从势能泛函驻值条件出发提出构造8节点Serendipity平面等参元,并建立平面有限元法．每个节点拥有3个独立节点自由度,分别为2个方向的线位移和1个逆时针方向的角位移．用该方法分析含中心小孔的无限平板在单轴拉伸情况下的应力集中问题．数值计算结果与Cosserat理论的解析解非常符合,表明应力集中因数k受泊松比μ,常数c及a／l值的影响很大;由于偶应力的存在,小孔周围的应力分布明显小于经典弹性力学理论的预测．通过对材料常数c的调节可以将该方法推广应用于基于Mindlin偶应力理论的数值分析中．     

An element for static, vibration and buckling analysis of thick laminated plates

A conforming finite element formulation of the equations governing composite multilayered plates using Reddy's higher-order theory is presented. The element has eight degrees of freedom, u₀, v₀, w, ∂w/∂x, ∂w/∂y, ∂²w/∂x∂y, γ_x, γ_y, per node. The transverse displacement of the present element is described by a modified bicubic displacement function while the in-plane displacements and shear-rotations are interpolated quadraticly. The element is evaluated for its accuracy in the analysis of static, vibration, and buckling of anisotropic rectangular plates with different lamination schemes and boundary conditions. The conforming finite element described here for the higher-order theory gives fairly accurate results for displacements, stresses, buckling loads, and natural frequencies.     

Application of the spline finite strip to the analysis of shear-deformable plates

A spline finite strip is proposed to analyse thick isotropic or laminated composite plates. The formulation is based upon the principle of virtual work and the third-order plate theory developed by Reddy. The variational functional requires the satisfaction of C₁,-continuity of the assumed vertical deflection variable which can be easily fulfilled by the present method. The proposed spline finite strip is a conforming element with a smaller number of unknowns at each node compared to other existing elements based on the third-order theory. For the analysis of thin isotropic or laminated plates, the present element shows no sign of shear locking. A number of computational examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the present method.     

Free vibrations and stability analysis of laminated composite plates and shells with hybrid/mixed formulation

Modern theory for applications of laminated plates and shells calls for detailed study of the effect of large spatial rotations on the geometric stiffness for stability analysis as well as inertia operators for vibrations. These two issues are carefully examined here in conjunction with the recently developed mixed finite element formulation for plates and shells with low-order displacement/strain interpolations. An extensive set of stability and vibration problems has been solved to demonstrate the effectiveness and general utilities of the formulation described for laminated plate and shells with arbitrary geometry.     

Deep residual U-net with input of static structural responses for efficient U* load transfer path analysis

U* index theory is widely used to illustrate the load transfer paths inside an engineering structure. However, the conventional U* load transfer path analysis based on the finite element method is computationally demanding especially for large-scale structures. In this research, a convolutional neural network based on the architecture of residual U-Net is introduced to realize high-efficiency U* estimation of plate-type structures with arbitrary dimensions, boundary conditions, and loading conditions for the first time. Besides the geometrical information of the structures, the static structural responses including the feature maps of nodal displacement and stress are involved in the network input. Different input data combinations are experimented to study how they contribute to the model training. It is noticed that the stress and displacement data can significantly lower the output errors in U* prediction, and the geometrical information helps in noise reduction in U* contour graphs. The proposed method is tested with homogeneous plates and functionally graded plates respectively indicating its remarkable performance in load transfer path prediction. Moreover, this method shortens the U* calculation time by over 95% compared to the conventional finite element method. The improved efficiency of load transfer path analysis greatly facilitates the implementation of structural analysis, design, and optimization.     

Mixed least-squares finite element model for the static analysis of laminated composite plates

This paper presents a mixed finite element model for the static analysis of laminated composite plates. The formulation is based on the least-squares variational principle, which is an alternative approach to the mixed weak form finite element models. The mixed least-squares finite element model considers the first-order shear deformation theory with generalized displacements and stress resultants as independent variables. Specifically, the mixed model is developed using equal-order C⁰ Lagrange interpolation functions of high p-levels along with full integration. This mixed least-squares-based discrete model yields a symmetric and positive-definite system of algebraic equations. The predictive capability of the proposed model is demonstrated by numerical examples of the static analysis of four laminated composite plates, with different boundary conditions and various side-to-thickness ratios. Particularly, the mixed least-squares model with high-order interpolation functions is shown to be insensitive to shear-locking.     

An improved formulation of space stiffeners

This paper presents a displacement based finite element model for predicting the constraint torsion effect of stiffeners. In structural modelling, the plate/shell and the stiffeners are treated as separate elements where the displacement compatibility transformation between these two types of elements takes into account the constraint torsional warping effect in the stiffeners. The development is based on a general beam theory which includes flexural-torsion coupling, constrained torsion warping, and shear-centre location. The virtual work principle includes the second order terms of finite beam rotations. For finite element analysis, cubic Hermitian polynomials are used as shape functions of the straight space frame element with two nodes. Elastic stiffness and geometric stiffness matrices for an arbitrary cross-section are evaluated in a closed form, and load correction stiffness for eccentric stiffener loads are considered. To demonstrate the importance of torsion warping constraints and to illustrate the accuracy of this formulation, finite element solutions are presented and compared with available solutions.     

A stabilized MITC element for accurate wave response in Reissner–Mindlin plates

Residual based finite element methods are developed for accurate time-harmonic wave response of the Reissner–Mindlin plate model. The methods are obtained by appending a generalized least-squares term to the mixed variational form for the finite element approximation. Through judicious selection of the design parameters inherent in the least-squares modification, this formulation provides a consistent and general framework for enhancing the wave accuracy of mixed plate elements. In this paper, the mixed interpolation technique of the well-established MITC4 element is used to develop a new mixed least-squares (MLS4) four-node quadrilateral plate element with improved wave accuracy. Complex wave number dispersion analysis is used to design optimal mesh parameters, which for a given wave angle, match both propagating and evanescent analytical wave numbers for Reissner–Mindlin plates. Numerical results demonstrates the significantly improved accuracy of the new MLS4 plate element compared to the underlying MITC4 element.     

Optimal design of hybrid laminated composite plates with dynamic and static constraints

Optimization procedures are presented that consider the static and dynamic characteristic constraints for laminated composite plates and hybrid laminated composite plates subject to a concentrated load on the center of the plate. The design variables adopted are ply angle or ply thickness. Considered constraints are deflection, natural frequency and specific damping capacity. Using a recursive linear programming method, nonlinear optimization problems are solved, and by introducing the design scaling factor, the number of iterations is reduced significantly. Relating interactive optimization procedures with the finite element method analysis, various hybrid composite plates with arbitrary boundary conditions can be designed optimally. In the optimization procedure, verification of analysis and design of the laminated composite plates are compared with a previous paper. Various design results are presented on laminated composite plates and hybrid laminated composite plates.     

Dynamic analysis of structures using a Reissner-Mindlin finite strip formulation

In this paper a finite strip formulation based on Reissner-Mindlin plate theory for dynamic analysis of prismatic shell type structure is presented. Detailed expressions of the relevant strip matrices for a variety of structures using the simple two node linear strip element are given. Examples of the good performance of the linear strip element for free and forced vibration analysis of plates, bridges and axisymmetric shells are presented.     

A finite element formulation for large amplitude flexural vibrations of thin rectangular plates

Large amplitude flexural vibrations of rectangular plates are studied in this paper using a direct finite element formulation. The formulation is based on an appropriate linearisation of strain displacement relations and uses an iterative method of solution. Results are presented for rectangular plates with various boundary conditions using a conforming rectangular element. Whenever possible the present solutions are compared with those of earlier work. This comparison brings out the superiority of the proposed formulation over the earlier finite element formulation.     

基于修正变分法开孔板和加强板结构的自由振动分析

为研究船舶开孔板和加强板结构的振动特性,用1阶剪切变形板理论描述各向同性板的位移场,并采用修正变分原理和区域分解方法建立板的离散动力学模型.每一块子域板的位移和转角分量通过第一类切比雪夫正交多项式展开.针对加强板模型,将该方法获得的结果与已经发表的文献和有限元商用软件计算结果进行对比,验证该方法的收敛性和正确性.基于修正变分法探讨多种开孔和加强板模型的自由振动特性,充分说明该数理模型和半解析方法是一种适合处理复杂板结构问题的数值工具.     

A simple displacement-based 3-node triangular element for linear and geometrically nonlinear analysis of laminated composite plates

A simple displacement-based 3-node, 18-degree-of-freedom flat triangular plate/shell element LDT18 is proposed in this paper for linear and geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis of thin and thick laminated composite plates. The presented element is based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT), and the total Lagrangian approach is employed to formulate the element for geometrically nonlinear analysis. The deflection and rotation functions of the element boundary are obtained from the Timoshenko’s laminated composite beam functions, hence convergence to the thin plate solution can be achieved theoretically and shear-locking problem is avoided naturally. The plane displacement interpolation functions of the Airman’s triangular membrane element with drilling degrees of freedom are taken as the in-plane displacements of the element. Numerical examples demonstrate that the present element is accurate and efficient for linear and geometrically nonlinear analysis of thin to moderately thick laminated composite plates.     

On the formulation and implementation of geometric and manufacturing constraints in node–based shape optimization

We introduce a novel method to handle geometrical and manufacturing constraints in parameter–free shape optimization. Therefore the design node coordinates are split in two sets where one set is declared as new design variables and the other set is coupled to the new design variables such that the geometrical constraint is fulfilled. Thereby no additional equations are appended to the optimization problem. In contrast the implementation of a demolding constraint is presented by formulating inequality constraints which indeed have to be attached to the optimization problem. In the context of a sensitivity–based shape optimization approach all manufacturing constraints have to be formulated in terms of the finite element node coordinates such that first order gradients with respect to the design node coordinates can be derived.     

Shape optimization of axisymmetric shells using a higher-order shear deformation theory

In this paper structural and sensitivity analysis for the optimization of laminated axisymmetric shells subjected to static constraints and arbitrary loading is presented. The shell thickness, radial coordinate of a nodal point, lamina thickness and the angle of orientation of the fibers are the design variables. The objective of the design optimization is the minimization of the volume of the shell or the strain energy. The model is based on a three-node axisymmetric finite element with 24 degrees of freedom. A higher-order theory is developed for the nonlinear distribution of the meridional displacement component through the thickness of the shell. The sensitivities of the discrete model developed are evaluated analytically using a symbolic manipulator. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed model is discussed with reference to the applications.