Locking-free finite element methods for shells

Abstract

We propose a new family of finite element methods for the Naghdi shell model, one method associated with each nonnegative integer k. The methods are based on a nonstandard mixed formulation, and the kth method employs triangular Lagrange finite elements of degree k+2 augmented by bubble functions of degree k + 3 for both the displacement and rotation variables, and discontinuous piecewise polynomials of degree k for the shear and membrane stresses. This method can be implemented in terms of the displacement and rotation variables alone; as the minimization of an altered energy functional over the space mentioned. The alteration consists of the introduction of a weighted local projection into part, but not all, of the shear and membrane energy terms of the usual Naghdi energy. The relative error in the method, measured in a norm which combines the H I norm of the displacement and ro tation fields and an appropriate norm of the shear and membrane stress fields, converges to zero with order k+1 uniformly with respect to the shell thickness for smooth solutions, at least under the assumption that certain geometrical coefficients in the Nagdhi model are replaced by piecewise constants.