Geometric non-linear analysis of thin plate structures using the harmonic coupled finite strip method

The paper describes a modified finite strip method embracing the harmonic coupled Fourier series treatment. The well known uncoupled formulation, first developed in the context of thin plate bending analysis, represents a semi-analytical finite element process. As far as linear analysis is concerned, it takes advantage of the orthogonality properties of harmonic functions in the stiffness matrix formulation. However in the case of the geometric stiffness matrix calculation, the integral expressions contain the products of trigonometric functions with higher-order exponents, and here the orthogonality characteristics are no longer valid. All harmonics are coupled, and the stiffness matrix order and bandwidth are proportional to the number of harmonics used.