COMPOUND STRIP METHOD FOR FOLDED PLATES WITH CONNECTING ELEMENTS

The compound strip method is extended to include folded plate structures with connecting elements. The potential energy formulation common to the finite strip method is retained, and a direct stiffness technique for incorporating connecting elements is developed. The stiffnesses of connecting elements attached to the plate system at discrete points are written with respect to local element degrees of freedom, which are then transformed into forms consistent with the nodal parameters of the finite strips. The additional stiffnesses of grounded columns and connecting elements are derived in this manner and added directly to the finite strip stiffness. The combined use of rotation transformations and displacement parameter interpolation to model connecting elements with arbitrary orientations has not previously been applied to the finite strip method.