A multiple stack triangular thin shell element

Abstract. This project involves the combining of two elements, the plate bending element and the membrane element to create a shell element that will be stacked to model composite materials. The plate bending element has two rotation degrees of freedom and one translational degree of freedom. The membrane element has two translational degrees of freedom and one rotational. Merging these will create an element with full rotation and translational degrees of freedom which is useful in modeling heterogeneous wall constructions. N layers of shell element will be stacked, applying multi-DOF constraints on each nodes, to form a stack element with 18 dof in total. This requires a transformation of single element node DOFs into a reference surface. The element can be used in composite wall fabrications.

Literature. Chapter 36 of AFEM Notes (under construction).

Last update: April 21, 2009.