Finite elements for plates and shells

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Plates and shells

Midplane

The mid-surface of a plate is plane, a curved geometry make it a shell

The thickness is constant.
May be isotropic, anisotropic, composite and layered.

The isotropic case is considered.

Thin and thick cases are take into account.
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Comparison plate-beam
A plate can be regarded as the two-dimensional analogue of a beam:
- both carry transverse loads by bending action;
- but they have significant differences;
- a beam typically has a single bending moment; a plate has two
bending moments (and two twisting moments)
- a deflection of a beam need not strain its axis; deflection of a plate will
strain its midsurface
Et 3
Bending stiffness EI
12

Flessione di una trave

Bending of a beam
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Thin plates (Kirchhoff)

t<1/10 the span of the
plate
w=w(x,y)

Transverse shear
deformation is neglected
Arbitrary point P
displacement

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yz zx 0

xy 0

w
u z
x

w
v z
y
4

The strain displacement relations give

u
2w
x
z 2
x
x

v
2w
y
z 2
y
y

xy

u v
2w

2 z
y x
xy

the first of these equation is the only one used in the beam theory.
In a thin plate the stress normal to the midplane is considered negligible

z 0
Accordingly, the plane stress equation gives

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Design f
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1
E
1
D
2
1
0 0

0
1
2

Stress distribution

x
E 1 2 w x 2
z
2

2
2
1 1 w y
y

2w
xy 2 zG
xy

Like in a beam, stresses vary linearly with distance from the midsurface
Transverse shear stresses yz and zx are also present, even though
transverse deformation is neglected
Transverse shear stresses vary quadratically through the thickness
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Moments
The stresses give rise to bending moment Mx and My and twisting
moment Mxy
Moments are function of x and y and are computed for unit length in the
plane of the plate

M x M x ( x, y )

dM x z ( x dA)

dA 1 dz

M y M y ( x, y )

dM y z ( x dA)

dA 1 dz

M xy M xy ( x, y )

dM xy z ( xy dA)

t/2

Mx

t/2
x

zdz

t / 2

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My

t / 2

dA 1 dz
t/2

zdz

M xy

xy

zdz

t / 2

Maximum magnitude of stresses

x (t / 2) x
y (t / 2) y
xy (t / 2) xy

z
Mx
x 2 x
x 6 2
t
t
My
z
y 2 y
y 6 2
t
t
M xy
z
xy 2 xy
xy 6 2
t
t

Formula for x can be regarded as the flexure formula x=Mxc/I applied

to a unit width of the plate with c=t/2

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2w
Mx 2 0
x

2w
0
y 2

2w
0 y x
y 2

EJ
Et 3
Bending stiffness D

(1 2 ) 12(1 2 )

Bending of a thin plate

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Bending of a plate

A plate has a wide cross section

- top and bottom edge of a cross section remain straight y-parallel axis
when Mx is applied

When a plate is bent to a cylindrical surface, only M x acts:

2w
Mx 2 0
x

2w
0
y 2

2w
0 y x
y 2

The flexural stress x is accompanied by the stress y

Stress y constrains the plate against the deformation y, thereby

stiffening the plate
The amount of stiffening is proportional to 1/(1-2), so that a unit width
of the plate has
EI
Et 3
Bending stiffness D

2
(1 ) 12(1 2 )

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Thick plates (Mindlin)

yz 0 zx 0

xy 0

Accounts for transverse shear deformation

The assumption that right angle in a cross section are preserved
must be abandoned
The planes initially normal to the midsurface experience rotations
different from rotations of the midsurface itself (x, y)
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Strain-displacements relations

u z y
v z x

If

w
x
y

x z

y z x
y

xy
yz
xz

y x

x
y
w

x
y
w

y
x

w
y
x

Transverse shear deformations vanish and the equations reduce to

the equations for thin plates.

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Loads

Loads in the z direction, either distribuited or concentrated,to the

lateral surface z=t/2, or to the edge of the plate

Bending moment whose vector is tangent to the edge

At the point where concentrated lateral load (z direction) is applied:

- Kirchhoff theory predicts infinite bending;
- Mindlin theory predicts infinite bending and infinite displacement

The infinities disappear if the concentrated load is applied over a

small area instead.

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Membrane forces

Internal force resultant in the plane of the plate (membrane forces)

can develop as a consequence of the deflection
may be present because of loads component tangent to the
midsurface
can significantly influence the response of the plate to load

Membrane forces have a stress stiffening effect:

- if tensile they effectively increase the flexural rigidity
- if compressive they decrease it

Compressive membrane forces may become large enough to

produce buckling

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Beam with immovable hinge supports

Hinge support remains exactly a distance L apart, regardless of how

much load is applied.
Beam develop the usual flexural stresses and also membrane force N
that support part of the applied load by spring effect.
If the deflected shape is a parabola with center deflection w c the
uniform distributed load supported by spring action is

qs
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64 Ebt wc

4
3 L t

15

 For a simple supported beam

5 qb L4
wc
qb
384 EI

The total load supported by beam and spring action occurring

simultaneously is

Ebt
wc
wc
q qs qb 4 21.3
6.4

L
t
t
3

For wc/t=0.5 (HP: t<<L) spring and beam action each support
about half of the total load
This argument is of little value for beams because immovible
supports are not found in practice.
The value of the argument is its implication for problems of thin
plates
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Observation
The counterpart of the spring action in a beam is strain of the
midsurface in a plate.
Deflection of a plate w=w(x, y) produce no strain of the midsurface
only if w describes a developable surface, i.e. cylinder or cone.
In general load produces a deflected shape that is not developable.
Accordingly, in general there are strains at the midsurface, and
membrane forces appear that carry out part of the load.

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Finite elements for plates

A plate is a thin solid and might be modeled by 3D solid elements

A solid element is wasteful of d.o.f., as it computes transverse normal
stress and transverse shear stresses, all of which are considered
negligible in a thin plate.
Also thin 3D elements invite numerical troubles because stiffness
associated with z is very much larger than other stiffnesses.
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The plate element has half as many d.o.f. as the comparable 3D

element and omit z from its formulation
Thickness appear to be zero, but the correct value is used in its
formulation
Circular plates can be modeled by shell of revolution elements, simply
by making shell elements flat rather than cylindrical or conic.
Each of such element is thus a flat annular ring, joined to adjacent
annular elements at its inner and outer radii.
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Patch tests for plate elements

A plate element must be able to display states of constant x, y and
xy if it is to pass patch test.
These states must be displayed in each z=constant layer.
This means that a valid plate element must pass patch tests for states
of constant Mx, My, and Mxy..

2w

x 2

cost

cost

Kirchoff theory

Mindlin theory

Patch test for constant Mx

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Kirchhoff plate elements

12 d.o.f.

Nodal d.o.f.: w w( x, y )

w
x
w
x
y

The assumed w field is a polynomial in x and y

The stiffness matrix is

k B DBdV
T

where D is the matrix of the flexural rigidities

B is contrived to produce curvature when it operates on nodal
d.o.f. that describe a lateral displacement field w=w(x,y)
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This element is incompatible: that is , if n is a direction normal to an

element edge, w n is not continuous between elements for some
loading conditions
Accordingly, the element cannot guarantee a lower bound on computed
displacements, so results may converge from above rather from
below.
A compatible rectangular element with corner nodes only require that
twist 2w/xy also be used as a nodal d.o.f. which is undesiderable.
Experience in formulation of plate elements has shown that the Midlin
formulation is more productive and Midlin plate elements are in common
use also for thin plates.

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Mindlin plate elements

A Mindlin element is based on three fields

w w( x, y )

x x ( x, y )

y y ( x, y )

each interpolated from nodal values.

If all interpolations use the same polynomial, then for an element of
n nodes:

x

y

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wi
N
0
0

i
n

0 N i 0 xi Nd
i 1
0 0 N i yi

23

In the stiffness matrix

k BT D
BdV
5 x5

D include the 3by 3 matrix for plane stress and also shear moduli
associated with the two transverse shear strain.
Integration with respect ot z is done explicitly.
Integration in the plane of the element is done numerically if the
element is isoparametric.
Four nodes and eight nodes quadrilater elements are popular
based on the same Ni used for a plane elements.
In any layer z=constant, the behaviour of a Mindlin plate can be
deduced from the behaviour of the corresponding element provided
that the integrand are integrated by the same quadrature rule.
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Bending deformation

Elements strains x are independent of x, any order o quadrature will

report the same strain energy of pure bending
However this element displays spurious shear strain.
If a/t is large, transverse shear strain zx becomes large and the element
is too stiff in bending, unless zx is evaluated at x=0, where it vanishes.
But one-point quadrature for all strains will introduce four instability
modes.
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This observation suggests selective integration in which one-point

quadrature is applied to transverse shear terms and four-point
quadrature is applied to bending terms.

Two instability modes remain that are controlled by stabilization

matrices.

Eight nodes Mindlin elements have the analogous shortcomings and

may also be treated by selective integration.

Calculated stresses are usually more accurate at the Gauss points.

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Support conditions

Support conditions are classed as clamps, simple, or free, in direct

analogy to the possible support conditions of a beam.

Nodal d.o.f. that must be prescribed for these support conditions are
Clamped
w=n= s=0
-----the
following
Simply supported

w=0

Mn=0

Free

-------

Q=Mn=Mns=0

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Bending of square plate

Et 3
D
12(1 2 )

Maximum deflection
Distributed
load q

qL4
f
D

Concentrated
load P

PL2
f
D

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=0.00406 simply supported edges

=0.00126 clamped edges
=0.0116 simply supported edges
=0.00560 clamped edges

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Twisting test cae

E=107
=0.3
t=0.05
W3=0.0029 L
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Shells and shell theory

The geometry of a shell is defined by its thickness and its midsurface,
which is a curved surface in space.
Load is carried by a combination of membrane action and bending
action.
A thin shell can be very strong if membrane action dominates, in the
same way that a wire can carry great load in tension but only small
load in bending.
However, no shell is completely free of bending stresses.
They appear or near point load, line loads, reinforcements, junctures,
change of curvature and supports.
Any concentration of load or geometrical discontinuity can be
expected to produce bending stresses, often much larger, of
membrane stresses, but quite localized.

Example of load and geometry that produce bending

Axial force G must be transferred through the structure to the support.
The simple support around the base AA applies axially direct line load,
which has a shell normal component that causes bending.
Around BB the cylindrical and conical part exert shell-normal load
component on one other.
Shell-normal load is transferred across FF because the cylindrical and
spherical shells try to expand different amounts under internal pressure
Line load EE is obviously shell-normal, as is the restrain provided by
reinforcing ring DD

Internal forces and moments associated with bending at a discontinuity

such as CC are the following

Flexural stress and bending moment in a shell are related in the same
way as for a plate
6M
M0 x 0
x 2 0 x
t
V0 x 0
0

6M
V0 M x 0
x 2 x
t
Membrane stresses, constant through the thickness, would be
superposed on the flexural stress

How much is the boundary in which bending may be important?

A simple approximation can be obtained from the theory of a shell of
revolution.
Analytical solution for radial displacement and bending moment as
function of axial distance x from the end is

w e x C1 sin x C2 cos x
Where, given R the radius and t the thickness of the shell,

3 1

2 2
R
t

For x= 30.25 , e-x=0.07 (=0)

1/ 4

x=Rt

The end displacement and the bending moment declines to 7%.

This is the estimate value of the boundary layer. In a FE analysis al
least two element must be used to span the boundary layer.
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Shell tangent edge loads

Shell tangent edge loads produce actions that are not confined to
a boundary layer .
Axial loads act on end A of the unsupported cylindrical shell, but
the largest displacement appear at the end B in apparent
contradiction of Saint-Venant principle.
Saint-Venant principle is applicable to massive isotropic boides.
Thin-walled structure and high anisotropic structures may behave
quite differently.

Finite elements for shells

The most direct mode to obtain a shell element is to combine a
membrane element and a bending element.
A simple triangular element can be obtained by combining the plane
stress triangle with the plane bending triangle.
The resulting element is flat and has five d.o.f. or six d.o.f. per node,
depending on whether or not the shell-normal rotation zi at node i is
present in the plane stress element.
A quadrilater element can be produced in similar fashion, by combining
quadrilater plane and plate elements.
A four node quadrilater element is in general a warped element
because its nodes are not all coplanar.
A modest amount of warping can seriously degrade the performance of
an element.

Flat elements
Advantages of a flat element include:
- simplicity of formulation,
- simplicity in the description of the geometry,
- elements ability to represent rigid-body motion without strain.
Disadvantage include:
- the representation of a smoothly curved shell surface by flat or slightly
warped facets.
There is a discretization error associated with the lack of coupling
between membrane and bending action within individual elements.
Common advice is that flat element should span no more than roughly
10 of the arc of the actual shell.

Curved elements based on shell theory avoid some shortcomings of flat

elements but introduce other difficulties:
- more data are needed to describe the geometry of a curved element,
- formulation, based on shell theory, is complicated,
- membrane and bending action are coupled within the element

Isoparametric shell elements

Isoparametric shell elements occupy a middle ground between flat
elements and curved elements based on shell theory.
One begins with a 3d solid element
The element can model a shell if thickness t is small in comparison
with other dimensions.
However, such an element has the defect noted for plate bending:
invite numerical troubles because the stiffness associated with z is
very much larger than the other stiffness.

Accordingly , the element is transformed, the number of nodes is

reduced from 20 to 8, by expressing translational d.o.f. of the 20-node
element in terms of translational and rotational d.o.f. of the 8-node
element.

Node A and C appear in the solid element, but not in the shell
elements. Displacement at A and C are

t
ua ub yb
2
t
va vb xb
2

t
uc ub yb
2
t
vc vb xb
2

wa wb
wc wb

With relations like these for all thickness direction lines of nodes,
shape function of the 20 node element are transformed so as to
operate on the three translations and two rotations at each node of
the 8-node element.
A Mindlin shell element is obtained.
Thickness direction normal stress is taken as zero, and stress-strain
relations reflect this assumption.
The element matrix is integrated numerically.
A reduced or selective integration scheme may be used to avoid
transverse shear locking and membrane locking.

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Test cases

a) Shell roof with q= 90 for unit area: membrane action dominates

b) Pinched cylinder, F=1: mambrane and bending action are active
c) Hemisphere, F=2: bending action dominates
d) Twisted strip: F1=10-6: sensitivity of the elements to warping can be
tested

Problem

Rob

Roof
F=Peso

25

50

0.25

432 106

0.3

0.3024

Cylinder

300

600

3.00

3 106

0.3

0.1825 10-4

--

0.04

68.25 106

0.3

0.0924

12

0.0032

29 106

0.22

5256 10-6

F=1
Hemisphere 10
F=2
Strip
F1=10-6
F2=10-6

1.1

1294 10-6

Shell of revolution
A
A
Aaa
A
Aaa
Aaa
A
A
Aaa
Aaa

In cross section, an element for a shell of revolution resembles a beam

element.
Like an element for a solid of revolution, an element for a shell of
revolution has nodal circle, rather than nodal points.
Typically there are two nodal circles for element.

A shell of revolution element may be flat (conical) or curved.

The simplest formulation resembles the 2D beam element , in that is
used:
- a cubic lateral displacement field,
- a linear meridianal displacement field,
- each nodal circle has two translational (radial and axial) and one
rotational as d.o.f.
Conical shell elements have advantages and disadvantages like those
of other flat element
Spherical shell loaded by internal
pressure and modeled by a
coarse mesh of conical shell
elements display spurious
bending moments.

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Examples

From the beam behaviour

PL3
v
37310 6 mm
3EI
PLR
z
0.0713MPa
I

Shear center (x=-2R y=0)

Torque about the shear center
Rotation of the loaded end

T= -2RP

=-11.2 10-6 rad

Total deflection v=-37310-6+2R =-933 10-6 mm

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