A powerful finite element for plate bending

A powerful finite element formulation for plate bending has been developed using a modified version of the variational method of Trefftz. The notion of a boundary has been generalized to include the interelement boundary. All boundary conditions and the interelement continuity requirements (displacements, slopes, internal forces) have been obtained as natural conditions on the generalized boundary. Coordinate functions have been constructed to satisfy the nonhomogeneous Lagrange equation locally within the elements. Singularities due to isolated loads have been properly taken into account. For practical use a general quadrilateral element has been developed and its accuracy illustrated on several numerical examples. Work is in progress to extend the formulation to anisotropic and moderately thick plates and to vibration analysis.     

A spline wavelet finite element formulation of thin plate bending

The wavelet scaling functions of spline wavelets are used to construct the displacement interpolation functions of triangular and rectangular thin plate elements. The displacement shape functions are then expressed by spline wavelet functions. A spline wavelet finite element formulation of thin plate bending is developed by using the virtual work principle. Two numerical examples have shown that the bending deflections and moments of thin plates agree well with those obtained by the differential equations and conventional elements. It is demonstrated that the current spline wavelet finite element method (FEM) can achieve a high numerical accuracy and converges fast. The proposed spline wavelet finite element formulation has a wide range of applicability since it is developed in the same way like conventional displacement-based FEM.     

Finite element analysis of shell structures

Summary A survey of effective finite element formulations for the analysis of shell structures is presented. First, the basic requirements for shell elements are discussed, in which it is emphasized that generality and reliability are most important items. A general displacement-based formulation is then briefly reviewed. This formulation is not effective, but it is used as a starting point for developing a general and effective approach using the mixed interpolation of the tensorial components. The formulation of various MITC elements (that is, elements based on Mixed Interpolation of Tensorial Components) are presented. Theoretical results (applicable to plate analysis) and various numerical results of analyses of plates and shells are summarized. These illustrate some current capabilities and the potential for further finite element developments.     

Accurate evaluation of support reactions in finite element plate-bending analysis

Two simple approaches are presented which allow the distribution of support reactions to be predicted with as high degree of accuracy as the displacements. In the first approach the plate element assembly is completed with special one-dimensional elastic support elements. If their Winkler coefficient is suitably tuned, an accurate prediction of reactions is obtained as a part of the finite element analysis without unduly affecting the displacements and moments of the plate. In the second approach, a standard finite element calculation (without elastic support elements) is performed first and the distribution of reactions is then evaluated based on the known nodal forces at boundary nodes of the plate.

The two approaches are indiscriminately applicable with Kirchhoff and Reissner-Mindlin plate bending elements. Their practical efficiency is illustrated by numerical examples.     

Curved shell elements for heat conduction with p-approximation in the shell thickness direction

A finite element formulation is presented for the curved shell elements for heat conduction where the element temperature approximation in the shell thickness direction can be of an arbitrary polynomial order p. This is accomplished by introducing additional nodal variables in the element approximation corresponding to the complete Lagrange interpolating polynomials in the shell thickness direction. This family of elements has the important hierarchical property, i.e. the element properties corresponding to an approximation order p are a subset of the element properties corresponding to an approximation order p + 1. The formulation also enforces continuity or smoothness of temperature across the inter-element boundaries, i.e. C⁰ continuity is guaranteed.

The curved shell geometry is constructed using the co-ordinates of the nodes lying on the middle surface of the shell and the nodal point normals to the middle surface. The element temperature field is defined in terms of hierarchical element approximation functions, nodal temperatures and the derivatives of the nodal temperatures in the element thickness direction corresponding to the complete Lagrange interpolating polynomials. The weak formulation (or the quadratic functional) of the three-dimensional Fourier heat conduction equation is constructed in the Cartesian co-ordinate space. The element properties of the curved shell elements are then derived using the weak formulation (or the quadratic functional) and the hierarchical element approximation. The element matrices and the equivalent heat vectors (resulting from distributed heat flux, convective boundaries and internal heat generation) are all of hierarchical nature. The element formulation permits any desired order of temperature distribution through the shell thickness.

A number of numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the superiority, efficiency and accuracy of the present formulation and the results are also compared with the analytical solutions. For the first three examples, the h-approximation results are also presented for comparison purposes.     

Nonlinear finite element analysis of elastic frames

A very simple and effective formulation and numerical procedure to remove the restriction of small rotations between two successive increments for the geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis of in-plane frames is presented. A co-rotational formulation combined with small deflection beam theory with the inclusion of the effect of axial force is adopted. A body attached coordinate is used to distinguish between rigid body and deformational rotations. The deformational nodal rotational angles are assumed to be small, and the membrane strain along the deformed beam axis obtained from the elongation of the arc length of the deformed beam element is assumed to be constant. The element internal nodal forces are calculated using the total deformational nodal rotations in the body attached coordinate. The element stiffness matrix is obtained by superimposing the bending and the geometric stiffness matrices of the elementary beam element and the stiffness matrix of the linear bar element. An incremental iterative method based on the Newton-Raphson method combined with a constant arc length control method is employed for the solution of the nonlinear equilibrium equations. In order to improve convergence properties of the equilibrium iteration, a two-cycle iteration scheme is introduced. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.     

Vibration analysis of continuous plate structures using boundary integrals

The natural frequencies of thin continuous plates, including the influence of in-plane forces, are calculated using boundary integrals. This study deals in particular with continuous plate structures consisting of several fields of different thickness and possibly with the inclusion of internal supports. The concepts of compatibility and equilibrium conditions along the common boundaries have been imposed in conjunction with a boundary element formulation for each panel. Several examples are presented and the results are compared with analytical as well as finite element solutions demonstrating the effectiveness of the formulation. Some numerical issues are discussed as well.     

A discrete Kirchoff plate bending element with loof nodes

The majority of existing flat shell finite elements suffer from the deficiencies of displacement incompatibility, singularity when the elements are coplanar at a node, inability to model intersections and low-order membrane strain representation. In this paper, a plate bending element, labeled DKL (for Discrete Kirchoff element with Loof nodes), with the same nodal configuration as a triangular Semiloff plate element, but not formulated through the isoparametric concept is presented. This element when superposed with the linear strain triangle results in a faceted shell element free from the abovementioned deficiencies. Various numerical examples are tested using this plate element so as to demonstrate its reliability, accuracy and convergence characteristics.     

A finite difference variational method for bending of plates

The method of analysis for bending of plates presented in this paper combines a finite difference scheme for the plate strain components and a variational derivation of the equations of motion or equilibrium. The plate strain components are expressed in terms of discrete nodal displacements with the aid of the two dimensional Taylor expansion. Consequently, the virtual work, or the first variation of the strain energy, in an area element is found as a function of the nodal displacements. The derivation of the element forces or the element stiffness matrices and the assembly of the equations of motion or equilibrium follows closely the steps of the finite element method.     

A study of moderately thick quadrilateral plate elements based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation

Finite element analysis using plate elements based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) can predict the behaviors of moderately thick plates subject to large deformation. However, the formulation is subject to numerical locking, which compromises results. This study was designed to investigate and develop techniques to prevent or mitigate numerical locking phenomena. Three different ANCF plate element types were examined. The first is the original fully parameterized quadrilateral ANCF plate element. The second is an update to this element that linearly interpolates transverse shear strains to overcome slow convergence due to transverse shear locking. Finally, the third is based on a new higher order ANCF plate element that is being introduced here. The higher order plate element makes it possible to describe a higher than first-order transverse displacement field to prevent Poisson thickness locking. The term “higher order” is used, because some nodal coordinates of the new plate element are defined by higher order derivatives. The performance of each plate element type was tested by (1) solving a comprehensive set of small deformation static problems, (2) carrying out eigenfrequency analyses, and (3) analyzing a typical dynamic scenario. The numerical calculations were made using MATLAB. The results of the static and eigenfrequency analyses were benchmarked to reference solutions provided by the commercially available finite element software ANSYS. The results show that shear locking is strongly dependent on material thickness. Poisson thickness locking is independent of thickness, but strongly depends on the Poisson effect. Poisson thickness locking becomes a problem for both of the fully parameterized element types implemented with full 3-D elasticity. Their converged results differ by about 18 % from the ANSYS results. Corresponding results for the new higher order ANCF plate element agree with the benchmark. ANCF plate elements can describe the trapezoidal mode; therefore, they do not suffer from Poisson locking, a reported problem for fully parameterized ANCF beam elements. For cases with shear deformation loading, shear locking slows solution convergence for models based on either the original fully parameterized plate element or the newly introduced higher order plate element.     

An iterative procedure for collapse analysis of reinforced concrete plates

An iterative procedure is proposed for evaluating the ultimate load of a laterally loaded plate discretized by finite elements. The procedure regards reinforced concrete plates, but it can be extended to metallic plates without any conceptual change. The stress and displacement fields are approximated by means of a finite element model with constant stress and linear displacement fields. Consequently, any load distribution is represented by the equivalent system of nodal forces for a given mesh. In the set of mechanisms compatible with the assumed discretization the best upper bound to the collapse multiplier of the actual load is obtained via linear programming. By dualization a sequence of linear programming problems is obtained which allows an evaluation of a lower bound of the collapse multiplier for the equivalent load system. When the mesh gets finer and finer, the value obtained does not change substantially anymore. This value can be regarded as an estimate of the collapse multiplier for the original load system. Some numerical examples of plates subjected to uniform pressure confirm the reliability of this approximate multiplier.     

A linear quadrilateral shell element with fast stiffness computation

A new quadrilateral shell element with 5/6 nodal degrees of freedom is presented. Assuming linear isotropic elasticity a Hellinger–Reissner functional with independent displacements, rotations and stress resultants is used. Within the mixed formulation the stress resultants are interpolated using five parameters for the membrane forces as well as for the bending moments and four parameters for the shear forces. The hybrid element stiffness matrix resulting from the stationary condition is integrated analytically. This leads to a part obtained by one point integration and a stabilization matrix. The element possesses the correct rank, is free of locking and is applicable within the whole range of thin and thick shells. The in-plane and bending patch tests are fulfilled and the computed numerical examples show that the convergence behaviour of the stress resultants is very good in comparison to comparable existing elements. The essential advantage is the fast stiffness computation due to the analytically integrated matrices.     

Effect of the centrifugal forces on the finite element eigenvalue solution of a rotating blade: a comparative study

In this study, the effect of the centrifugal forces on the eigenvalue solution obtained using two different nonlinear finite element formulations is examined. Both formulations can correctly describe arbitrary rigid body displacements and can be used in the large deformation analysis. The first formulation is based on the geometrically exact beam theory, which assumes that the cross section does not deform in its own plane and remains plane after deformation. The second formulation, the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF), relaxes this assumption and introduces modes that couple the deformation of the cross section and the axial and bending deformations. In the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, four different models are developed; a beam model based on a general continuum mechanics approach, a beam model based on an elastic line approach, a beam model based on an elastic line approach combined with the Hellinger–Reissner principle, and a plate model based on a general continuum mechanics approach. The use of the general continuum mechanics approach leads to a model that includes the ANCF coupled deformation modes. Because of these modes, the continuum mechanics model differs from the models based on the elastic line approach. In both the geometrically exact beam and the absolute nodal coordinate formulations, the centrifugal forces are formulated in terms of the element nodal coordinates. The effect of the centrifugal forces on the flap and lag modes of the rotating beam is examined, and the results obtained using the two formulations are compared for different values of the beam angular velocity. The numerical comparative study presented in this investigation shows that when the effect of some ANCF coupled deformation modes is neglected, the eigenvalue solutions obtained using the geometrically exact beam and the absolute nodal coordinate formulations are in a good agreement. The results also show that as the effect of the centrifugal forces, which tend to increase the beam stiffness, increases, the effect of the ANCF coupled deformation modes on the computed eigenvalues becomes less significant. It is shown in this paper that when the effect of the Poisson ration is neglected, the eigenvalue solution obtained using the absolute nodal coordinate formulation based on a general continuum mechanics approach is in a good agreement with the solution obtained using the geometrically exact beam model.     

Definition of the Elastic Forces in the Finite-Element Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation and the Floating Frame of Reference Formulation

The equivalence of the finite-element formulations used inflexible multibody dynamics is the focus of this investigation. Thisequivalence will be used to address several fundamental issues related tothe deformations, flexible body coordinate systems, and the geometriccentrifugal stiffening effect. Two conceptually different finite-elementformulations that lead to exact modeling of the rigid body dynamics will beused. The first one is the absolute nodal coordinateformulation in which beams and plates can be treated as isoparametricelements. This formulation leads to a constant and symmetric mass matrix andhighly nonlinear elastic forces. In this study, it is demonstrated thatdifferent element coordinate systems which are used for the convenience ofdescribing the element deformations lead to similar results as the elementsize is reduced. In particular, two element frames are used;the pinned and the tangent frames. The pinned frame has one ofits axes passing through two nodes of the element, while the tangent frame isrigidly attached to one of the ends of the element. Numerical resultsobtained using these two different frames are found tobe in good agreement as the element size decreases. The relationshipbetween the coordinates used in the absolute nodal coordinate formulationand the floating frame of reference formulation is presented. Thisrelationship can be used to obtain the highly nonlinear expression of thestrain energy used in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation from thesimple energy expression used in the floating frame of referenceformulation. It is also shown that the source of the nonlinearityis due to the finite rotation of the element. The result of the analysispresented clearly demonstrates that the instability observedin high-speed rotor analytical models due to the neglect of the geometriccentrifugal stiffening is not a problem inherent to a particular finite-element formulation. Such a problem can only be avoided by considering the known linear effect of the geometric centrifugal stiffening or by using a nonlinear elastic model as recently demonstrated. Fourier analysis of the solutions obtained in this investigation also sheds new light on the fundamental problem of the choice of the deformable body coordinate system in the floating frame of reference formulation. Another method forformulating the elastic forces in the absolute nodal coordinate formulationbased on a continuum mechanics approach is also presented.     

Large amplitude free flexural vibrations of thin plates of arbitrary shape

A finite element formulation is developed for analyzing large amplitude free flexural vibrations of elastic plates of arbitrary shape. Stress distributions in the plates, deflection shape and nonlinear frequencies are determined from the analysis. Linearized stiffness equations of motion governing large amplitude oscillations of plates, quasi-linear geometrical stiffness matrix, solution procedures, and convergence characteristics are presented. The linearized geometrical stiffness matrix for an eighteen degrees-of-freedom conforming triangular plate element is evaluated by using a seven-point numerical integration. Nonlinear frequencies for square, rectangular, circular, rhombic, and isosceles triangular plates, with edges simply supported or clamped, are obtained and compared with available approximate continuum solutions. It demonstrates that the present formulation gives results entirely adequate for many engineering purposes.     

Optimality criterion approach using tapered finite elements with nodal averaging technique for two-dimensional problems

Use of tapered finite elements with three design variables per element and nodal averaging technique in the optimality criterion approach is studied in this paper. Minimum volume design of a uniformly heated square plate with a single temperature constraint is obtained using the proposed method. The present results with a lower order finite element mesh compare very well with those obtained with optimality criterion approach using constant thickness elements and with mathematical programming techniques using a higher order finite element mesh.     

Finite element analysis of long-period water waves

The finite element representation of the nonlinear equations governing the unsteady flow of the two-dimensional long-period shallow water wave is considered. The approximate solution assumes, that the flow is only a slight perturbation of an existing flow. With this assumption a finite element formulation in terms of discrete nodal values of velocity and water height is generated using Galerkin's method. The resulting matrix equation for an arbitrary triangular-based space-time element constitutes a set of linear algebraic equations solvable for nodal values of the flow variables. The topological properties of estuaries are treated and with the solution thus obtained, numerical results are shown for the North Sea.     

A finite element model for the analysis of viscoelastic sandwich structures

In this work a finite element model is developed for vibration analysis of active–passive damped multilayer sandwich plates, with a viscoelastic core sandwiched between elastic layers, including piezoelectric layers. The elastic layers are modelled using the classic plate theory and the core is modelled using the Reissener–Mindlin theory. The finite element is obtained by assembly of N “elements” through the thickness, using specific assumptions on the displacement continuity at the interfaces between layers. The lack of finite element plate-shell models to analyse structures with passive and active damping, is the principal motivation for the present development, where the solution of some illustrative examples and the results are presented and discussed.     

Linear constraint equations for continuous support conditions in finite element analysis

Discretised structural models such as by finite elements imply discretised support conditions. In some cases such as plates on elastic foundation or slabs on large interacting columns an improved formulation of the continuous support conditions is desirable. This can be achieved by means of linear constraint equations. The numerical treatment of linear constraints is discussed for the method of elimination of variables as well as for the method of Lagrange multipliers. Then specific constraint equations for different accuracy requirements are derived, which can be used to constrain rectangular flat shell elements of arbitrary shape functions. These constraints introduce six generalized displacements according to the rigid body motions of the element and transmit the corresponding generalized reactions on the nodal degrees of freedom in a way consistent with distributed reactions. The effect on the strain energy of a square shell element is shown for the different constraint equations. As an application, the linear constraints are used to represent the continuous interaction of columns with the plate in a flat slab structure. Comparison of the finite element solutions with analytical results shows that the derived constraint equations allow a considerably improved formulation of continuous support conditions.