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The paper is concerned with a geometrically non-linear solid shell finite element formulation, which is based on the Hu-Washizu variational principle. For the approximation of the independent displacement, stress and strain fields, the strain field is additively decomposed into two parts. Due to the fact that one part of the strain field is interpolated in the same manner as proposed by the enhanced assumed strain (EAS) method, it is denoted as EAS field. The other strain field is approximated with the same interpolation functions as the stress field. In contrast to the EAS concept the approximation spaces of the stresses and the enhanced assumed strains are not orthogonal. Consequently the stress field is not eliminated from the finite element equations. For the displacements tri-linear shape functions are considered. Shear locking and curvature thickness locking are treated using assumed natural strain interpolations. A static condensation leads to a simple low order hexahedral solid shell element. Numerical tests show that the present model is very robust and allows larger load steps than an EAS solid shell element.

In this paper shear correction factors for arbitrary shaped beam crosssections are calculated. Based on the equations of linear elasticity and further assumptions for the stress field the boundary value problem and a variational formulation are developed. The shear stresses are obtained from derivatives of the warping function. The developed element formulation can easily be implemented in a standard finite element program. Continuity conditions which occur for multiple connected domains are automatically fulfilled.

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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. ABSTRACTThe practical behaviour of problems exhibiting bifurcation with secondary branches cannot be studied in general by using standard path-following methods such as arc-length schemes. Special algorithms have to be employed for the detection of bifurcation and limit points and furthermore for branch-switching. Simple methods for this purpose are given by inspection of the determinant of the tangent stiffness matrix or the calculation of the current stiffness parameter. Near stability points, the associated eigenvalue problem has to be solved in order to calculate the number of existing branches. The associated eigenvectors are used for a perturbation of the solution at bifurcation points. This perturbation is performed by adding the scaled eigenvector to the deformed configuration in an appropriate way. Several examples of beam and shell problems show the performance of the method.

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This paper presents the development of a 3-D brick element with enhanced assumed strains for a geometrically non-linear theory. Some linear and non-linear examples show that this element can be used successfully in the whole range of solid structures. Thin 2-D-and 3-D-beam and shell structures are calculated with few 3-D elements and the results are the same as for shell or beam elements. ?