• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 1997

A 4-node element for efficient finite element analysis of plate bending is presented in this paper. This element is formulated based on Mindlin plate theory to take account of shear deformation. To overcome the overestimation of shear stiffness in thin Mindlin plate element, especially in the lower order element, five nonconforming displacement modes are added to the original displacement fields. The proposed nonconforming element does not possess spurious zero-energy mode and does not show shear locking phenomena in very thin plate even for distorted mesh shapes. It was recognized from benchmark numerical tests that the displacement converges to the analytical solutions rapidly and the stress distributions are very smooth. The element also provides good results for the case of high aspect ratio.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.41-61
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• 1998

A state-of-the-art report on the new finite elements formulated by the addition of nonconforming displacement modes has been presented. The development of a series improved nonconforming finite elements for the analysis of plate and shell structures is described in the first part of this paper. These new plate and shell finite elements are established by the combined use of different improvement schemes such as; the addition of nonconforming modes, the reduced (or selective) integration, and the construction of the substitute shear strain fields. The improvement achieved may be attributable to the fact that the merits of these improvement techniques are merged into the formation of the new elements in a complementary manner. It is shown that the results obtained by the new elements give significantly improved solutions without any serious defects such as; the shear locking, spurious zero energy mode for the linear as well as nonlinear benchmark problems. Recent developments in the transition elements that have a variable number of mid-side nodes and can be effectively used in the adaptive mesh refinement are presented in the second part. Finally, the nonconforming transition flat shell elements with drilling degrees of freedom are also presented.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.475-484
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• 2000

In this paper, new additional nonconforming modes for the improvement of bending behavior in the distorted 8 node hexahedral element and their effective modification method are studied. The rotational degrees of freedom are introduced by using a functional in which the rotations are independent variables. In an element formulation, the same interpolations are used in displacement and rotation fields, but nonconforming modes we applied only in displacement fields. To verify the developed element various numerical tests are carried out and test results show good behavior.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.19-25
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• 1985

By the combined use of reduced integration and addition of nonconforming displacement modes, a highly effective new plate element has been established. The displacement field of this element was formed by adding nonconforming modes only to transverse displacement component of Ahmad-Irons' element and the element matrices are computed by the numerical integrations with modified orders. Comparing with other elements, the superiority of the both NC 8-4.1 and NC 8-5.1 elements over the elements previously studied has been observed. The solutions with these elements converge to the true solutions very rapidly as the mesh is refined. These elements are also shown to be applicable to the wide range of thick and very thin plate problems.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.37-52
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• 2012

In this study, a new 4-node general shell element with 6 DOFs per node is presented. Drilling rotational degrees of freedom are introduced by the variational principle with an independent rotation field. In formulation of the element, substitute transverse shear strain fields are used to avoid shear locking, while four nonconforming modes are applied in the in-plane displacement fields as a remedy for membrane locking. In addition, a direct modification method for nonconforming modes is employed in the numerical implementation of nonconforming modes to represent constant strain states. A 9-points integration rule is adopted for volume integration in the computation of the element stiffness matrix. With the combined use of these techniques, the developed shell element has no spurious zero energy modes, and can represent a constant strain state. Several numerical tests are carried out to evaluate the performance of the new element developed. The test results show that the behavior of the elements is satisfactory.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.27-34
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• 1998

A versatile flat shell element has been developed by combining a membrane element with drilling degree-of-freedom and a plate bending element. This element is formulated by the enhanced displacement field with the additional non-conforming displacement modes. Thus the element possesses six degrees-of-freedom (DOF) per node which permits an easy connection to other six DOF elements as well as the improvement of the element behavior. In plate bending part, this element is established by the combined use of the addition of non-conforming modes, the reduced (or selective) integration scheme, and the construction of the substitute shear strain fields. The achieved improvement may be attributable to the fact that the merits of these individual techniques are merged into the new element in a complementary manner. In membrane part, this element shows better membrane behavior as the nonconforming displacement mode is added to drilling mode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.191-194
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• 2001

A partially coupled thermo-piezoelectric-mechanical triangular finite element model of composite laminates with surface bonded piezoelectric actuators, subjected to externally applied mechanical load, temperature change load, electric field load is developed. The governing differential equations are obtained by applying the principle of free energy and variational techniques. A higher order zigzag theory displacement field is employed to accurately capture the transverse shear and normal effects in laminated composite plates of arbitrary thickness. Nonconforming shape functions by Specht are employed in the transverse displacement variables. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed triangular plate element.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 1988

The present work is concerned with the improvement of finite element for the analysis of plate bending structures. The element formulation is based upon Mindlin plate concept. The displacement field of this element is formed by adding nonconforming modes to two rotational displacement components of a 'heterosis plate element. The element has the requisite numbers of zero eigenvalues associated with rigid body modes to avoid the spurious zero energy mode. It is shown that the results obtained by the element converged to the exact solutions very rapidly as the mesh is refined and exhibited reliable solutions through numerical studies for standard benchmark problems. This element is shown to overcome the shear locking problem completely in very thin plate situation even for irregular meshes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.207-231
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• 1999

A versatile 4-node shell element which is useful for the analysis of arbitrary shell structures is presented. The element is developed by flat shell approach, i.e., by combining a membrane element with a Mindlin plate element. The proposed element has six degrees of freedom per node and permits an easy connection to other types of finite elements. In the plate bending part, an improved Mindlin plate has been established by the combined use of the addition of non-conforming displacement modes (N) and the substitute shear strain fields (S). In the membrane part, the nonconforming displacement modes are also added to the displacement fields to improve the behavior of membrane element with drilling degrees of freedom and the modified numerical integration (M) is used to overcome the membrane locking problem. Thus the element is designated as NMS-4F. The rigid link correction technique is adopted to consider the effect of out-of-plane warping. The shell element proposed herein passes the patch tests, does not show any spurious mechanism and does not produce shear and membrane locking phenomena. It is shown that the element produces reliable solutions even for the distorted meshes through the analysis of benchmark problems.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.229-236
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• 2004

A new three-node triangular shell element based on higher order zig-zag theory is developed for laminated composite shells with multiple delaminations. The present higher order zig-zag shell theory is described in a general curvilinear coordinate system and in general tensor notation. All the complicated curvatures of surface including twisting curvatures can be described in an exact manner in the present shell element because this element is based on geometrically exact surface representation. The displacement field of the proposed finite element includes slope of deflection. which requires continuity between element interfaces. Thus the nonconforming shape function of Specht's three-node triangular plate bending element is employed to interpolate out-of-plane displacement. The present element passes the bending and twisting patch tests in flat surface configurations. The developed element is evaluated through the buckling problems of composite cylindrical shells with multiple delaminations. Through the numerical examples it is demonstrated that the proposed shell element is efficient because it has minimal degrees of freedom per node. The accuracy of the present element is demonstrated in the prediction of buckling loads and buckling modes of shells with multiple delaminations. The present shell element should serve as a powerful tool in the prediction of buckling loads and modes of multi-layered thick laminated shell structures with arbitrary-shaped multiple delaminations.