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.