Rational finite element method for plane orthotropic elastic problems

Abstract

The rational finite element method is different from the standard finite element method, which is constructed using basic solutions of the governing differential equations as interpolation functions in the elements. Therefore, it is superior to the isoparametric approach because of its obvious physical meaning and accuracy; it has successfully been applied to the isotropic elasticity problem. In this paper, the formulation of rational finite elements for plane orthotropic elasticity problems is deduced. This method is formulated directly in the physical domain with full consideration of the requirements of the patch test. Based on the number of element nodes and the interpolation functions, different approaches are applied with complete polynomial interpolation functions. Then, two special stiffness matrixes of elements with four and five nodes are deduced as a representative application. In addition, some typical numerical examples are considered to evaluate the performance of the elements. The numerical results demonstrate that the present method has a high level of accuracy and is an effective technique for solving plane orthotropic elasticity problems.