Performance study of a simple finite element in the analysis of skew rhombic plates

Abstract

An exhaustive study of skew rhombic plates in transverse bending is carried out using a simple three-noded element. Uniformly distributed, as well as concentrated, loads are considered for various support conditions. It is interesting to note that even for Morley's acute skew plate with singularity, very good convergence is achieved for deflection and moment values with the usual mesh pattern. Because of the inadequacy of published works, two other elements have been deployed to facilitate comparison of results. It is seen that the element under discussion fits excellently into the analysis of skew plates. Because of the availability of the element stiffness matrix in the explicit form, the use of the element is straightforward and involves less complexity. A minicomputer has been employed for the analysis and the CPU time for different elements has been reported in the convergence study for the sake of comparison.