• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.373-394
• /
• 2016

The postbuckling behavior of laminated composite plates and shells, subjected to various shear loadings, is presented, using a modified 8-ANS method. The finite element, based on a modified first-order shear deformation theory, is further improved by the combined use of assumed natural strain method. We analyze the influence of the shell element with the various location and number of enhanced membrane and shear interpolation. Using the assumed natural strain method with proper interpolation functions, the present shell element generates neither membrane nor shear locking behavior even when full integration is used in the formulation. The effects of various types of lay-ups, materials and number of layers on initial buckling and postbuckling response of the laminated composite plates and shells for various shear loading have been discussed. In addition, the effect of direction of shear load on the postbuckling behavior is studied. Numerical results and comparisons of the present results with those found in the literature for typical benchmark problems involving symmetric cross-ply laminated composites are found to be excellent and show the validity of the developed finite element model. The study is relevant to the simulation of barrels, pipes, wing surfaces, aircrafts, rockets and missile structures subjected to intense complex loading.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.191-213
• /
• 2011

This paper presents an improved 8-node shell element for the analysis of plates and shells. The finite element, based on a refined first-order shear deformation theory, is further improved by the combined use of assumed natural strain method. We analyze the influence of the shell element with the different patterns of sampling points for interpolating different components of strains. Using the assumed natural strain method with proper interpolation functions, the present shell element generates neither membrane nor shear locking behavior even when full integration is used in the formulation. Further, a refined first-order shear deformation theory, which results in parabolic through-thickness distribution of the transverse shear strains from the formulation based on the third-order shear deformation theory, is proposed. This formulation eliminates the need for shear correction factors in the first-order theory. Numerical examples demonstrate that the present element perform better in comparison with other shell elements.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 1991

The paper is concerned with the analysis of laminated composite shell structures using an improved degenerated shell element. In the formulation of the element stiffness, the combined use of three different techniques was made. They are; 1) an enhanced interpolation of transverse shear strains in the natural coordinate system to overcome the shear locking problem; 2) the reduced integration technique in in-plane strains to avoid the membrane locking behavior; and 3) selective addition of the nonconforming displacement modes to improve the element performances. This element is free of serious shear/membrane locking problems and undesirable compatible/commutable spurious kinematic deformation modes. An incremental total Lagrangian formulation is presented which allows the calculation of arbitrarily large displacements. The resulting non-linear equilibrium equations are solved by the Newton-Raphson method. The versatility and accuracy of this improved degenerated shell element are demonstrated by solving several numerical examples.

• Computational Structural Engineering
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.97-107
• /
• 1990

The development of an improved degenerated shell element is presented in this paper. In the formulation of this element, an enhanced interpolation of transverse shear strains in the natural coordinate system is used to overcome the shear locking problem ; the reduced integration technique in in-plane strains is applied to avoid the membrane locking behavior ; and selective addition of the nonconforming displacement modes improve the element performances. This element is free of serious locking problems and undesirable compatible or commutable spurious kinematic deformation modes, and passes the patch tests. To illustrate the performance of this improved degenerated shell element, some benchmark problems are presented. Numerical results indicate that the new element shows fast convergence and reliable solutions.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 1990.04a
• /
• pp.18-23
• /
• 1990

The paper is concerned with the elasto-plastic and geometrically nonlinear analysis of shell structures using an improved degenerated shell element. In the formulation of the improved degenerated shell element, an enhanced interpolation of transverse shear strains in the natural coordinate system is used to overcome the shear locking problems; the reduced integration technique in in-plane strains is applied to avoid membrane locking behavior; selective addition the nonconforming displacement modes improve the element performances. This element is free of serious locking problems and undesirable compatible or commutable spurious kinematic deformation modes and passes the patch tests. An incremental total Lagrangian formulation is presented which allows the calculation of arbitrarily large displacements and rotations. The resulting nonlinear equations are solved by the Newton-Raphson solution scheme. The versatility and accuracy of this improved degenerated shell element are demonstrated by solving several numerical examples.

• Computational Structural Engineering
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.113-123
• /
• 1990

The paper is concerned with the elasto-plastic and geometrically nonlinear analysis of shell structures using an improved degenerated shell element. In the formulation of the element stiffness, the combined use of three different techniques was made. They are; 1) an enhanced interpolation of transverse shear strains in the natural coordinate system to overcome the shear locking problem ; 2) the reduced integration technique in in-plane strains to avoid the membrane locking behavior ; and 3) selective addition of the nonconforming displacement modes to improve the element performances. This element is free of serious shear/membrane locking problems and undesirable compatible/commutable spurious kinematic deformation modes. In the formulation for plastic deformation, the concept of a layered element model is used and the material is assumed von Mises yield criterion. An incremental total Lagrangian formulation is presented which allows the calculation of arbitrarily large displacements and rotations. The resulting non-linear equilibrium equations are solved by the Netwon-Raphson method combined with load or displacement increment. The versatility and accuracy of this improved degenerated shell element are demonstrated by solving several numerical examples.