Static and dynamic analysis of thin plates in bending— A novel finite element model

Abstract

The static and dynamic behavior of thin flat plates in bending have been studied by means of a recently developed 1 doubly curved triangular shell element. The element's formulation is based on a modified mixed variational principle, wherein the primal variable σ (vector of shell stress resultants) and ũ (boundary displacement vector) are required to satisfy a priori: (1) the complete shallow shell equilibrium equations, and (2) interelement C 1 displacement continuity. Several well-selected plate structures have been analyzed and the numerical results obtained indicate that the new element scheme competes most favorably with recently developed as well as with well-established elements included in commercial general-purpose finite element codes.