A New Laminated Plate Element CDST S6 for Thin or Thick Plates

Abstract:

Based on the first order shear deformation laminated plate theory (FSDT), a new three node triangular laminated plate element, labelled here as composite discrete shear triangular element with 6 extra shear degrees of freedom(CDST S6), is proposed. The transverse shear strains and rotations of the element are the same with DST S6. The proposed CDST S6 can eliminate the shear locking without any numerical expediencies such as the reduced integration, the use of the assumed strains/stresses, or the need for the stabilization of the attendant zero energy mode. The expression of the CDST S6 is simple in formulation and easy to be implemented by using finite element method. Numerical examples indicate that the element has high accuracy and high convergence rates for solving thin or thick laminated plates.

Key words:first order shear deformation laminated plate theory(FSDT); shear locking; laminated plate; shear degrees of freedom