Nonlinear postbuckling analysis of plates and shells by four-noded strain element

Abstract

This paper deals with the nonlinear postbuckling analysis of plates and shells by the finite element method. The four-noded C° strain element for nonlinear plate anaysis developed by the authors is first extended to the nonlinear shell analysis and then used for the nonlinear postbuckling analysis of plates and shallow shells. The element tangent stiffness matrix presented here is given explicitly, i.e., without any numerical integration. Consequently, this C° strain element is much more computationally economical and efficient than the widely used elements obtained from numerical integration. The efficiency and accuracy of the present four-noded strain element for postbuckling analysis are demonstrated by five numerical examples of various plates and shells.