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Distortion-resistant and locking-free eight-node elements effectively capturing the edge effects of Mindlin-Reissner plates

Chenfeng Li Orcid Logo

Engineering Computations, Volume: 34, Issue: 2

Swansea University Author: Chenfeng Li Orcid Logo

Abstract

PurposeA simple shape-free high-order hybrid displacement function element method is presented for precise bending analyses of Mindlin-Reissner plates. Three distortion-resistant and locking-free eight-node plate elements are proposed by utilizing this method.Design/methodology/approachThis method i...

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Published in: Engineering Computations
ISSN: 0264-4401
Published: 2017
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa29668
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Abstract: PurposeA simple shape-free high-order hybrid displacement function element method is presented for precise bending analyses of Mindlin-Reissner plates. Three distortion-resistant and locking-free eight-node plate elements are proposed by utilizing this method.Design/methodology/approachThis method is based on the principle of minimum complementary energy, in which the trial functions for resultant fields are derived from two displacement functions, F and f, and satisfy all governing equations. Meanwhile, the element boundary displacements are determined by the locking-free arbitrary order Timoshenko’s beam functions. Then, three locking-free 8-node, 24-DOF quadrilateral plate bending elements, HDF-P8-23β for general cases, HDF-P8-SS1 for edge effects along soft simply supported (SS1) boundary, and HDF-P8-FREE for edge effects along free boundary, are formulated.FindingsThe proposed elements can pass all patch tests, exhibit excellent convergence and possess superior precision when compared to all other existing 8-node models, and can still provide good and stable results even when extremely coarse and distorted meshes are used. They can also effectively solve the edge effect by accurately capturing the peak value and the dramatical variations of resultants near the SS1 and Free boundaries. The proposed 8-node models possess the potential in the engineering application and could be easily integrated into the commercial software.Originality/valueThis work presents a new scheme, which can take the advantages of both analytical and discrete methods, to develop high-order mesh-distortion resistant Mindlin-Reissner plate bending elements.
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: 2