Lecture 19: Beam, Plate, and Shell Elements I

Topics: Beam, plate, and shell elements I

• Brief review of major formulation approaches
• The degeneration of a three-dimensional continuum to beam and shell behavior
• Basic kinematic and static assumptions used
• Formulation of isoparametric (degenerate) general shell elements of variable thickness for large displacements and rotations
• Geometry and displacement interpolations
• The nodal director vectors
• Use of five or six nodal point degrees of freedom, theoretical considerations and practical use
• The stress-strain law in shell analysis, transformations used at shell element integration points
• Shell transition elements, modeling of transition zones between solids and shells, shell intersections

Instructor: Klaus-Jürgen Bathe