Implementation of P-Version Shell Elements Into a Solid Elasticity Framework

This paper on "Implementation of P-Version Shell Elements Into a Solid Elasticity Framework" was presented at the International Conference on Quality Assurance and Standards in Finite Element Analysis - 22-25 May 1989, Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

Introduction

The implementation of shell elements into a solid elasticity framework has several objectives. The shell and solid formulations must be compatible, so that shell am solid elements may be joined in a straightforward manner. There should be a hierarchy of shell theories, so that in the limit, the shell theory becomes identical to the solid theory. Finally, there should be quality assurance procedures, so that the validity of the results may be determined. This is especially important, since with shell elements there may be errors of idealization as well as errors of discretization.
In this paper, the p-version of the finite element method, which incorporates extensive quality control procedures, will be reviewed. Then the implementation of the shell elements into the solid framework will be discussed, and finally the use of the shell elements with the quality control procedures in PROBE will be presented for two benchmark problems.