Hybrid‐stabilized solid‐shell model of laminated composite piezoelectric structures under non‐linear distribution of electric potential through thickness

Eighteen‐node solid‐shell finite element models have been developed for the analysis of laminated composite plate/shell structures embedded with piezoelectric actuators and sensors. The explicit hybrid stabilization method is employed to formulate stabilization vectors for the uniformly reduced integrated 18‐node three‐dimensional composite solid element. Unlike conventional piezoelectric elements, the concept of the electric nodes introduced in this paper can effectively eliminate the burden of constraining the equality of the electric potential for the nodes lying on the same electrode. Furthermore, the non‐linear distribution of electric potential in the piezoelectric layer is expressed by introducing internal electric potential, which not only can simplify modelling but also obtains the same as the exact solution. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hybrid‐stress six‐node prismatic elements

This paper presents three novel hybrid‐stress six‐node prismatic elements. Starting from the element displacement interpolation, the equilibrating non‐constant stress modes for the first element are identified and orthogonalized with respect to the constant stress modes for higher computational efficiency. For the second element, the non‐constant stress modes are non‐equilibrating and chosen for the sake of stabilizing the reduced‐integrated element. The first two elements are intended for three‐dimensional continuum analysis with both passing the patch test for three‐dimensional continuum elements. The third element is primarily intended for plate/shell analysis. Shear locking is alleviated by a new assumed strain scheme which preserves the element accuracy with respect to the twisting load. Furthermore, the Poisson's locking along the in‐plane and out‐of‐plane directions is overcome by using the hybrid‐stress modes of the first element. The third element passes the patch test for plate/shell elements. Unless the element assumes the right prismatic geometry, it fails the patch test for three‐dimensional continuum elements. It will be seen that all the proposed elements are markedly more accurate than the conventional fully integrated element. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A geometrically non‐linear piezoelectric solid shell element based on a mixed multi‐field variational formulation

This paper is concerned with a geometrically non‐linear solid shell element to analyse piezoelectric structures. The finite element formulation is based on a variational principle of the Hu–Washizu type and includes six independent fields: displacements, electric potential, strains, electric field, mechanical stresses and dielectric displacements. The element has eight nodes with four nodal degrees of freedoms, three displacements and the electric potential. A bilinear distribution through the thickness of the independent electric field is assumed to fulfill the electric charge conservation law in bending dominated situations exactly. The presented finite shell element is able to model arbitrary curved shell structures and incorporates a 3D‐material law. A geometrically non‐linear theory allows large deformations and includes stability problems. Linear and non‐linear numerical examples demonstrate the ability of the proposed model to analyse piezoelectric devices. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Universal three‐dimensional connection hexahedral elements based on hybrid‐stress theory for solid structures

High‐performance hybrid‐stress hexahedral solid elements are excellent choices for modeling joints, beams/columns walls and thick slabs for building structures if the exact geometrical representation is required. While it is straight‐forward to model beam–column structures of uniform member size with solid hexahedral elements, joining up beams and columns of various cross‐sections at a common point proves to be a challenge for structural modeling using hexahedral elements with specified dimensions. In general, the joint has to be decomposed into 27 smaller solid elements to cater for the necessary connection requirements. This will inevitably increase the computational cost and introduce element distortions when elements of different sizes have to be used at the joint. Universal connection hexahedral elements with arbitrary specified connection interfaces will be an ideal setup to connect structural members of different sizes without increasing the number of elements or introducing highly distorted elements. In this paper, the requirements and the characteristics of the hexahedral connection elements with 24 and 32 nodes will be discussed. Formulation of the connection elements by means of Hellinger–Reissner functional will be presented. The performance of connection elements equipped with different number of stress modes will be assessed with worked examples. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An eight‐node hybrid‐stress solid‐shell element for geometric non‐linear analysis of elastic shells

This paper presents eight‐node solid‐shell elements for geometric non‐linear analysis of elastic shells. To subdue shear, trapezoidal and thickness locking, the assumed natural strain method and an ad hoc modified generalized laminate stiffness matrix are employed. A selectively reduced integrated element is formulated with its membrane and bending shear strain components taken to be constant and equal to the ones evaluated at the element centroid. With the generalized stresses arising from the modified generalized laminate stiffness matrix assumed to be independent from the ones obtained from the displacement, an extended Hellinger–Reissner functional can be derived. By choosing the assumed generalized stresses similar to the assumed stresses of a previous solid element, a hybrid‐stress solid‐shell element is formulated. Commonly employed geometric non‐linear homogeneous and laminated shell problems are attempted and our results are close to those of other state‐of‐the‐art elements. Moreover, the hybrid‐stress element converges more readily than the selectively reduced integrated element in all benchmark problems. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A hybrid stress ANS solid‐shell element and its generalization for smart structure modelling. Part I—solid‐shell element formulation

In the recent years, solid‐shell finite element models which possess no rotational degrees of freedom and applicable to thin plate/shell analyses have attracted considerable attention. Development of these elements are not straightforward. Shear, membrane, trapezoidal, thickness and dilatational lockings must been visioned. In this part of this paper, a novel eight‐node solid‐shell element is proposed. To resolve the shear and trapezoidal lockings, the assumed natural strain (ANS) method is resorted to. The hybrid‐stress formulation is employed to rectify the thickness and dilatational locking. The element is computationally more efficient than the conventional hybrid elements by adopting orthogonal‐assumed stress modes and enforcing admissible sparsity in the flexibility matrix. Popular benchmark tests are exercised to illustrate the efficacy of the elements. In Part II of the paper, the element will be generalized for smart structure modelling by including the piezoelectric effect. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A hybrid stress ANS solid‐shell element and its generalization for smart structure modelling. Part II—smart structure modelling

In Part I of the paper, a hybrid‐stress‐assumed natural strain eight‐node solid‐shell element immune to shear, membrane, trapezoidal, thickness and dilatational lockings has been developed. Moreover, the element computational cost is reduced by enforcing admissible sparsity in the flexibility matrix. In this part of the paper, the solid‐shell element is generalized to a piezoelectric solid‐shell element. Using the two solid‐shell elements, smart structures with segmented piezoelectric sensors and actuators can be conveniently modelled. A number of problems are studied and comparisons with other ad hoc element models for smart structure modelling are presented. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Curved quadratic triangular degenerated‐ and solid‐shell elements for geometric non‐linear analysis

Compared to the large number of curved quadrilateral degenerated‐ and solid‐shell elements, there are only a very few curved triangular degenerated‐ and solid‐shell elements. Based on the assumed natural strain sampling scheme previously developed for a quadratic degenerated‐shell element for linear analysis, this paper devises geometric non‐linear six‐node degenerated‐shell and twelve‐node solid‐shell elements. Both elements can be curved and are only equipped with the standard nodal d.o.f.s. Careful consideration has been exercised to circumvent various locking phenomena that plague degenerated‐ and solid‐shell elements. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate their efficacy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hybrid‐Trefftz stress elements for incompressible biphasic media

A wavelet‐based, high‐order time integration method is applied to replace the parabolic problem governing the response of incompressible biphasic media by a set of uncoupled Helmholtz problems. Their formal solutions are used to formulate the stress model of the hybrid‐Trefftz finite element formulation. The stress, pressure and displacement fields are directly approximated and designed to satisfy locally the equilibrium condition in each phase of the mixture. This basis is used to enforce on average the compatibility conditions and the constitutive relations of the mixture. The displacements in the solid and the normal displacement in the fluid are approximated independently on the boundary of the element and the basis is used to enforce in weak form the boundary equilibrium conditions. The resulting solving system is sparse, well suited to adaptive refinement and parallel processing. The energy statements associated with the formulation are recovered and sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of the finite element solutions are stated. Testing problems reported in the literature are used to illustrate the quality of the pressure, stress, displacement and velocity estimates obtained with the hybrid‐Trefftz stress element. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling arbitrary crack propagation in coupled shell/solid structures with X‐FEM

In this paper, the extended finite element method (X‐FEM) formulation for the modeling of arbitrary crack propagation in coupled shell/solid structures is developed based on the large deformation continuum‐based (CB) shell theory. The main features of the new method are as follows: (1) different kinematic equations are derived for different fibers in CB shell elements, including the fibers enriched by shifted jump function or crack tip functions and the fibers cut into two segments by the crack surface or connecting with solid elements. So the crack tip can locate inside the element, and the crack surface is not necessarily perpendicular to the middle surface. (2) The enhanced CB shell element is developed to realize the seamless transition of crack propagation between shell and solid structures. (3) A revised interaction integral is used to calculate the stress intensity factor (SIF) for shells, which avoids that the auxiliary fields for cracks in Mindlin–Reissner plates cannot satisfy exactly the equilibrium equations. Several numerical examples, including the calculation of SIF for the cracked plate under uniform bending and crack propagation between solid and shell structures are presented to demonstrate the performance of the developed method. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Refined non‐conforming triangular elements for analysis of shell structures

Based on the refined non‐conforming element method, simple flat triangular elements with standard nodal displacement parameters are proposed for the analysis of shell structures. For ensuring the convergence of the elements a new coupled continuity condition at the inter‐element has been established in a weaker form. A common displacement for the inter‐element, an explicit expression of refined constant strain matrix, and an adjustable constant are introduced into the formulation, in which the coupled continuity requirement at the inter‐element is satisfied in the average sense. The non‐conforming displacement function of the well‐known triangular plate element BCIZ [1] and the membrane displacement of the constant strain triangular element CST [2] are employed to derive the refined flat shell elements RTS15, and the refined flat shell elements RTS18 is derived by using the element BCIZ and the Allman's triangular plane element [3] with the drilling degrees of freedom. A simple reduced higher‐order membrane strain matrix is proposed to avoid membrane locking of the element RTS18. An alternative new reduced higher‐order strain matrix method is developed to improve the accuracy of the elements RTS15 and RTS18. Numerical examples are given to show that the present methods have improved the accuracy of the shell analysis. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal solid shell element for large deformable composite structures with piezoelectric layers and active vibration control

In this paper, we present an optimal low‐order accurate piezoelectric solid‐shell element formulation to model active composite shell structures that can undergo large deformation and large overall motion. This element has only displacement and electric degrees of freedom (dofs), with no rotational dofs, and an optimal number of enhancing assumed strain (EAS) parameters to pass the patch tests (both membrane and out‐of‐plane bending). The combination of the present optimal piezoelectric solid‐shell element and the optimal solid‐shell element previously developed allows for efficient and accurate analyses of large deformable composite multilayer shell structures with piezoelectric layers. To make the 3‐D analysis of active composite shells containing discrete piezoelectric sensors and actuators even more efficient, the composite solid‐shell element is further developed here. Based on the mixed Fraeijs de Veubeke–Hu–Washizu (FHW) variational principle, the in‐plane and out‐of‐plane bending behaviours are improved via a new and efficient enhancement of the strain tensor. Shear‐locking and curvature thickness locking are resolved effectively by using the assumed natural strain (ANS) method. We also present an optimal‐control design for vibration suppression of a large deformable structure based on the general finite element approach. The linear‐quadratic regulator control scheme with output feedback is used as a control law on the basis of the state space model of the system. Numerical examples involving static analyses and dynamic analyses of active shell structures having a large range of element aspect ratios are presented. Active vibration control of a composite multilayer shell with distributed piezoelectric sensors and actuators is performed to test the present element and the control design procedure. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non‐linear exact geometry 12‐node solid‐shell element with three translational degrees of freedom per node

This paper presents the finite rotation exact geometry (EG) 12‐node solid‐shell element with 36 displacement degrees of freedom. The term ‘EG’ reflects the fact that coefficients of the first and second fundamental forms of the reference surface and Christoffel symbols are taken exactly at each element node. The finite element formulation developed is based on the 9‐parameter shell model by employing a new concept of sampling surfaces (S‐surfaces) inside the shell body. We introduce three S‐surfaces, namely, bottom, middle and top, and choose nine displacements of these surfaces as fundamental shell unknowns. Such choice allows one to represent the finite rotation higher order EG solid‐shell element formulation in a very compact form and to derive the strain–displacement relationships, which are objective, that is, invariant under arbitrarily large rigid‐body shell motions in convected curvilinear coordinates. The tangent stiffness matrix is evaluated by using 3D analytical integration and the explicit presentation of this matrix is given. The latter is unusual for the non‐linear EG shell element formulation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new reduced integration solid‐shell element based on EAS and ANS with hourglass stabilization

In this paper, a novel reduced integration eight‐node solid‐shell finite element formulation with hourglass stabilization is proposed. The enhanced assumed strain method is adopted to eliminate the well‐known volumetric and Poisson thickness locking phenomena with only one internal variable required. In order to alleviate the transverse shear and trapezoidal locking and correct rank deficiency simultaneously, the assumed natural strain method is implemented in conjunction with the Taylor expansion of the inverse Jacobian matrix. The projection of the hourglass strain‐displacement matrix and reconstruction of its transverse shear components are further employed to avoid excessive hourglass stiffness. The proposed solid‐shell element formulation successfully passes both the membrane and bending patch tests. Several typical examples are presented to demonstrate the excellent performance and extensive applicability of the proposed element. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of geometrically exact new shell elements based on general curvilinear co‐ordinates

In the present study first‐order shear deformable shell finite elements based on general curvilinear co‐ordinates are proposed. For the development of the present shell elements, a partial mixed variational functional with independently assumed strains is provided in order to avoid the severe locking troubles known as transverse shear and membrane lockings. Bubble functions are included in the shape function of displacement to improve the performance of the developed element. The proposed assumed strain four‐ and nine‐node elements based on the general tensor shell theory provide an efficient linkage framework for shell surface modelling and finite element analysis. In the several benchmark problems, the present shell elements with exact geometric representations demonstrate their performance compared to previously reported results. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of nonlinear exact geometry sampling surfaces solid-shell elements and ANSYS solid elements for 3D stress analysis of piezoelectric shell structures

In this work, the finite rotation exact geometry four-node solid-shell element using the sampling surfaces (SaS) method is developed for the analysis of the second Piola-Kirchhoff stresses in laminated piezoelectric shells. The SaS method is based on choosing inside the layers the arbitrary number of SaS parallel to the middle surface and located at Chebyshev polynomial nodes in order to introduce the displacements and electric potentials of these surfaces as fundamental shell unknowns. The outer surfaces and interfaces are also included into a set of SaS. To circumvent shear and membrane locking, the hybrid-mixed solid-shell element on the basis of the Hu-Washizu variational principle is proposed. The tangent stiffness matrix is evaluated by 3D analytical integration throughout the finite element. This novelty provides a superior performance in the case of coarse meshes. A comparison with the SOLID226 element showed that the developed exact geometry SaS solid-shell element allows the use of load increments, which are much larger than possible with existing displacement-based finite elements. Thus, it can be recommended for the 3D stress analysis of doubly-curved laminated piezoelectric shells because the SaS formulation gives the opportunity to obtain the 3D solutions of electroelasticity with a prescribed accuracy.     

The mathematical shell model underlying general shell elements

We show that although no actual mathematical shell model is explicitly used in ‘general shell element’ formulations, we can identify an implicit shell model underlying these finite element procedures. This ‘underlying model’ compares well with classical shell models since it displays the same asymptotic behaviours—when the thickness of the shell becomes very small—as, for example, the Naghdi model. Moreover, we substantiate the connection between general shell element procedures and this underlying model by mathematically proving a convergence result from the finite element solution to the solution of the model. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new one‐point quadrature enhanced assumed strain (EAS) solid‐shell element with multiple integration points along thickness: Part I—geometrically linear applications

Accuracy and efficiency are the main features expected in finite element method. In the field of low‐order formulations, the treatment of locking phenomena is crucial to prevent poor results. For three‐dimensional analysis, the development of efficient and accurate eight‐node solid‐shell finite elements has been the principal goal of a number of recent published works. When modelling thin‐ and thick‐walled applications, the well‐known transverse shear and volumetric locking phenomena should be conveniently circumvented. In this work, the enhanced assumed strain method and a reduced in‐plane integration scheme are combined to produce a new eight‐node solid‐shell element, accommodating the use of any number of integration points along thickness direction. Furthermore, a physical stabilization procedure is employed in order to correct the element's rank deficiency. Several factors contribute to the high computational efficiency of the formulation, namely: (i) the use of only one internal variable per element for the enhanced part of the strain field; (ii) the reduced integration scheme; (iii) the prevention of using multiple elements' layers along thickness, which can be simply replaced by any number of integration points within a single element layer. Implementation guidelines and numerical results confirm the robustness and efficiency of the proposed approach when compared to conventional elements well‐established in the literature. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Higher‐order hybrid‐mixed axisymmetric thick shell element for vibration analysis

In this study, we present free vibration analysis of shells of revolution using the hybrid‐mixed finite element. The present hybrid‐mixed element, which is based on the modified Hellinger–Reissner variational principle, employs consistent stress parameters corresponding to cubic displacement polynomials with additional nodeless degrees to resolve the numerical difficulties due to the spurious constraints. The stress parameters are eliminated and the nodeless degrees are condensed out by the Guyan reduction. Several numerical examples show that the present element with cubic displacement interpolation functions and consistent quadratic stress functions is highly accurate for the free vibration analysis of shells of revolution, especially for higher vibration modes. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new nine‐node solid‐shell finite element using complete 3D constitutive laws

The solid‐shell element presented in this paper has nine nodes: eight are classically located at the apexes and are fitted with three translational DOFs whereas the ninth is sited at the center and is endowed with only one DOF; a displacement along the ‘thickness’ direction. Indeed, to be used for modeling thin structures under bending effects, this kind of finite element has a favored direction where several integration points are distributed. Besides, there is solely one ‘in‐plane’ quadrature point to avoid locking phenomena and prohibitive CPU costs for large nonlinear computations. Because a reduced integration is not enough to completely prevent transverse shear locking, a shear–strain field is assumed. Compared with the other eight‐node ‘solid‐shell' bricks, the presence of a supplementary node has a main aim: getting a linear normal strain component which, along with a full three‐dimensional constitutive strain–stress behavior, allows to achieve similar results in bending cases as those obtained with the usual plane stress state hypothesis. For that, the ninth node DOF plays the role of an extra parameter essential for a quadratic interpolation of the displacement in the thickness direction. The advantage is that this DOF has a physical meaning and, for instance, a strength equivalent to a normal pressure can be prescribed. With a suitable nodal numbering, the band width is not significantly increased and meshes can easily be generated because the extra nodes are always located at element centers. To emphasize the peculiar features of such an element, a set of examples (linear and nonlinear) is carried out. Numerous comparisons with other elements show pretty good results in bending dominating problems while adding the event of a normal stress component in sheet metal forming simulations with double side contact. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.