Mixed models and reduced/selective integration displacement models for nonlinear shell analysis

Abstract

AbstractSimple mixed models are developed for the geometrically nonlinear analysis of shells. A total Lagrangian description of the shell deformation is used, and the analytical formulation is based on a form of the nonlinear shallow shell theory with the effects of transverse shear deformation and bending‐extensional coupling included. The fundamental unknowns consist of eight stress resultants and five generalized displacements of the shell, and the element characteristic arrays are obtained by using the Hellinger‐Reissner mixed variational principle. The polynomial interpolation (or shape) functions used in approximating the stress resultants are, in general, of different degree than those used for approximating the generalized displacements. The stress resultants are discontinuous at the element boundaries and are eliminated on the element level.The equivalence and ‘near‐equivalence’ between the mixed models developed herein and displacement models based on reduced/selective integration of both transverse shear and extensional energy terms is discussed. The use of reduction methods in conjunction with the mixed models is outlined and the advantages of mixed models over displacement models are delineated. Analytic expressions are derived for the rigid‐body and spurious (or zero energy) models for the various mixed models and their equivalent displacement models. Also, the advantages of mixed models over equivalent displacement models are outlined. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the high accuracy and effectiveness of the mixed models developed, and to compare their performance with other mixed models reported in the literature.