A uniformly reduced, four-noded C0-shell element with consistent rank corrections

Abstract

An analysis of four-noded C 0-shell elements is presented that assesses their ability to represent the membrane-bending coupling phenomena in the governing shell equations by facet approximations. It is shown that four-noded shell elements can capture the predominant coupling phenomena consistent with the classical assumptions invoked in the first-order linear shell theories. Encouraged by this ability, a new four-noded C 0-shell element is presented that employs only one-point spatial integration rule. The inevitable spurious mechanisms resulting from reduced integration are compensated for by a systematic rank-correction technique that was previously developed for a plate-bending element. The element is applied to classical cylindrical buckling problems with encouraging results.