An effective finite rotation formulation for geometrical non-linear shell structures

Abstract

This paper presents a simple stress resultant 4-node shell element for geometrical non-linear analysis. In order to model smooth surfaces and/or stiffened structures, a simple and ef®cient technique for ®nite rotation is adopted. By means of suppressing the component of singular rotation effectivley, convenient use of six degrees of freedom is possible without deteriorating the robustness and the convergence rate of the classical 5-dof formulation. In the formulation of shell element, section eccentricity is also considered to model stiffened structures. Through numerical experiments the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated.

A finite-strain quadrilateral shell element based on discrete Kirchhoff-Love constraints

“…A cylindrical shell is clamped at one end and it is subject to two diametrically opposite forces in the other end. For further details, consult References [44,76,79,80].…”

“…A regular 16 × 16 element mesh is employed, in agreement with Reference [44]. It is noticeable that this is a known test to verify the behaviour of the element under inextensional deformations [80].…”