THIN ELEMENT APPLICATIONS OF A NEW FORMULATION FOR C-DEGREES STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

A new formulation was proposed recently for the removal of the shear and membrane locking mechanisms from the finite element equations of the structural C0 shell, plate and beam elements. The use of full integration with the proposed formulation does not allow development of the zero energy modes or the softening effects, usually associated with the use of the technique of reduced integration in C0 plate and shell element applications. In the present paper a beneficial side effect of the new formulation is presented with regard to the development of the purely machine dependent locking. Questions concerning the introduction of softening effects by the new formulation in some flat C0 plate/shell element applications are addressed. © 1990.