The Use of Curved Elements in the Finite Element Approximation of Thin Plates by High Order p and hp Methods

Abstract

In this article we focus on the approximation of the Reissner---Mindlin (R---M) plate model by high-order p and hp versions of the Finite Element Method (FEM), in the case when the mesh includes curved elements; this is of particular interest when plates with smooth boundary are considered. Our main goal is to verify that an appropriately defined Mixed Interpolated Tensorial Components (MITC) FEM performs well, in the presence of curved elements, when the energy norm is used as an error measure, as well as when quantities of engineering interest are computed. Comments on the performance of the standard FEM formulation are also made