A locking‐free nine‐DOF triangular plate element with incompatible approximation. (15th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cai, Yongchang; Zhu, Hehua
• Is Part Of: International journal for numerical methods in engineering. Volume 109:Number 7(2017)
• Page Start: 915
• Page End: 935
• Publication Date: 2016-08-15
• Subjects: plate -- Reissner–Mindlin -- triangular element -- meshless -- meshfree methods; Numerical analysis -- Periodicals; Engineering mathematics -- Periodicals; 620.001518
• DOI: 10.1002/nme.5307
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0029-5981

Abstract

Summary: In this paper, a simple locking‐free triangular plate element, labeled here as Mindlin‐type triangular plate element with nine degrees of freedom (MTP9), is presented. The element employs an incompatible approximation with nine degrees of freedom (DOFs) independent of the nodes and the shape of the triangle to define the displacements u / v / w (which is similar to a general solid element) along the x / y / z axes. It is free of shear locking, has a proper rank, and provides stable solutions for thick and thin plates. Moreover, the paper provides a new way to develop simple and efficient locking‐free thick–thin‐plate/shell elements. A variety of numerical examples demonstrate the convergence, accuracy, and robustness of the present element MTP9. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.