THE MOMENT REDISTRIBUTION EFFECT OF THE CO STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS FORMULATION

A new formulation was proposed recently for the removal of the shear and membrane locking mechanisms from the C0 structural elements. The performance of the new formulation was shown to be excellent in many cases of beam, plate and shell element applications, completely eliminating all locking problems. However, this formulation has its own problems. The potential introduction of softening effects (yielding softer models) and a rotational zero energy mode describe the problematic behaviour of the new formulation in cases of C0 plate and shell element applications. Analysis of this behaviour reveals some interesting aspects of the classical finite element formulation and allows for a better insight into the overall behaviour of the C0 structural elements. As a result of the present analysis, a modification of the new formulation, remedying its problematic behaviour, will appear soon.