Module 6: FEM for Plates and Shells

Lecture 2: Finite Element Analysis of Thin Plate

11

6.2.1 Triangular Plate Bending Element

A simplest possible triangular bending element has three corner nodes and three degrees of freedom per
nodes , ,
as shown in Fig. 6.2.1.

Fig. 6.2.1 Triangular plate bending element

As nine displacement degrees of freedom present in the element, we need a polynomial with nine
independent terms for defining, w(x,y) . The displacement function is obtained from Pascals triangle by
choosing terms from lower order polynomials and gradually moving towards next higher order and so
on.
1
x
x2
x3
x4

x3 y

y
y2

xy
x2y

xy2
x2 y2

y3
xy3

y4

Thus, considering Pascal triangle, and in order to maintain geometric isotropy, we may consider the
displacement model in terms of the complete cubic polynomial as,
w x, y 0 1 x 2 y 3 x 2 4 xy 5 y 2 6 x 3 7 x 2 y xy 2 8 y 3

(6.2.1)

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Corresponding values for

,
are,
w
2 4 x 2 5 y 7 x 2 2 xy 3 8 y 2
x
y

(6.2.2)

w
1 2 3 x 4 y 3 6 x 2 7 2 xy y 2
x
In the matrix form,

xy y 2
x3
w 1 x y x

x 2y
0
0
x 0 0 1

y 0 1 0 2 x y 0 3 x 2

x y xy
x 2 xy
2 xy y
2

(6.2.3)

0

1
2
y 3
3

3 y 2 4

0 5
6

7
8

Putting the nodal displacements and rotations for the triangular plate
the above equation, one can express following relations.
0
0
0
0
0
w1 1 0 0

0 0 1
0
0
0
0
0
x1
0
0
0
0
0
y1 0 1 0

2
1 0 y2
0
0
0
0
y2
w2
0
0
2 y2
0
0
0 0 1
x 2
y2
y22
0
0
0
0 1 0
y 2 1 x y
x32
x3 y3
y32
x33 x32 y3 x3 y32
3
3
w3
0 0 1
x3 2 y3 0
0
2 x3 y3 x32
x 3
y 3
0
3x32 y32 2 x3 y3
0 1 0 2 x3 y3

(6.2.4)

element as shown in Fig. 6.2.1 in

0
0
0
1
0
2
y23
3
3 y22
4
0
5
y32
6
2
3 y3 7

0 8

(6.2.5)

Or,

di
1

(6.2.6)

Further, the curvature of the plate element can be written as

Again, from eq. (6.2.1) the following equations can be obtained.

(6.2.7)

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2w
2 3 6 6 x 2 7 y
x 2
2w
2 5 2 7 x 6 8 y
y 2

(6.2.8)

w
4 2 7 x y
x y
2

The above equation is expressed in matrix form as

x 0 0 0 2 0 0 6 x
2 y

2 x
y 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
0 0 0 0 2 0
0 4 x y
xy

0

1
2

0 3

6 y 4
0 5

6

7
8

(6.2.9)

Or,

B
Thus,

B d
1

(6.2.10)

Further for isotropic material,

1
x
Mx
0

Et 3

0 y
1
My
2
M 12 1
1 xy
xy
0 0

(6.2.11)

M D D B d

(6.2.12)

Or
1

Now the strain energy stored due to bending is

(6.2.13)
Hence the force vector is written as

Thus, [k] is the stiffness matrix of the plate element and is given by

(6.2.14)

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(6.2.15)

For a triangular plate element with orientation as shown in Fig. 6.2.2, the stiffness matrix defined in
local coordinate system [k] can be transformed into global coordinate system.
(6.2.16)
Where, [K] is the elemental stiffness matrix in global coordinate system and [T] is the transformation
matrix given by
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 l m 0 0 0 0 0 0
x
x

0 l y my 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
(6.2.17)
T 0 0 0 0 lx mx 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 l y my 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 l x mx
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 l m
y
y

Here, (lx , mx) and (ly, my) are the direction cosines for the lines OX and OY respectively as shown in Fig.
6.2.2.

Fig. 6.2.2 Local and global coordinate system

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6.2.2 Rectangular Plate Bending Element

A rectangular plate bending element is shown in Fig. 6.2.3. It has four corner nodes with three degrees
of freedom , ,
at each node. Hence, a polynomial with 12 independent terms for defining w(x,y)
is necessary.

Fig 6.2.3 Rectangular plate bending element

Considering Pascal triangle, and in order to maintain geometric isotropy the following displacement
function is chosen for finite element formulation.

w(x, y) = a 0 + a1x + a 2 y + a 3 x 2 + a 4 xy + a 5 y 2 + a 6 x 3 + a 7 x 2 y
2

+ a 8 xy + a 9 y + a10 x y + a11xy
Hence Corresponding values for
qx =

are,

w
= a 2 + a 4 x + 2a 5 y + a 7 x 2 + 2a 8 xy + 3a 9 y 2 + a10 x 3 + 3a11xy 2
y

w
= -a1 - 2a 3 x - a 4 y - 3a 6 x 2 - 2a 7 xy - a 8 y 2 - 3a10 x 2 y - a11y3
x
The above can be expressed in matrix form
qy = -

(6.2.18)

(6.2.19)
(6.2.20)

a 0
2
3
2
2
3
3
3

w 1 x y x 2
xy
y
x
x
y
xy
y
x
y
xy
a

0
x 2y
0
x2
2xy 3y 2
x3
3xy 2 1
q x = 0 0 1


q y 0 -1 0 -2x -y 0 -3x 2 -2xy -y 2 0 -3x 2 y -y3
a11
(6.2.21)

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In a similar procedure to three node plate bending element the values of {} can be found from the
following relatios.
w1
1 0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0 a 0

a1
q
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
x1

q 0 -1 0
a 2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
y1

2
3

w
1
0
b
0
0
b
0
0
0
b
0
0
2

q
0
0 2b
0
0
0 3b
0
0 a 4

x2
0 0 1

0 -1 0
2
3

q
0
b
0
0
0
b
0
0
b
a 5
y2 =


2

w3
ab b 2
a3
a 2 b ab 2 b3
a 3b
ab3 a 6
1 a b a

q x3
0 0 1
0
a 2b
0
a2
2ab 3b 2
a3
3ab3 a 7

2
2
2
3
q

a 8
0
1
0
2a
b
0
3a
2ab
b
0
3a
b
b

y3

2
3

w4
1 a 0 a
0
0
a
0
0
0
0
0 a 9

2
3

a10
q

0
0
1
0
a
0
0
a
0
0
a
0
x
4

a11
q
0
1
0
2a
0
0
3a
0
0
0
0
0
y4

(6.2.22)
Thus,

d
1

(6.2.23)

Further,

(6.2.24)

Where,

2w
= 2a 3 + 6a 6 x + 2a 7 y + 6a10 xy
x 2
2w
= 2a 5 + 2a 8 x + 6a 9 y + 6a11xy
y 2

(6.2.25)

2w
= a 4 + 2a 7 x + 2a 8 y + 3a10 x 2 + 3a11y 2
x y
Thus, putting values of eq. (6.2.25) in eq. (6.2.24), the following relation is obtained.
a

-6xy
c x 0 0 0 -2 0 0 -6x -2y
0
0
0 0

a1

c = 0 0 0 0 0 2
-6y
-6xy
0
0
0
2x

y

4y
6y 2
0
0
6x 2
4x
c xy 0 0 0 0 2 0

a11

(6.2.26)

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Or,
(6.2.27)

{c} = [ B ] F-1 {d }

Further in a similar method to triangular plate bending element we can estimate the stiffness matrix for
rectangular plate bending element as,

1
x
Mx
0

Et 3

0 y
1
My
2

12 1
1 xy
M xy
0 0

(6.2.28)

Or

M D D B d
1

(6.2.29)

The bending strain energy stored is

(6.2.30)
Hence, the force vector will become

(6.2.31)

Where, [k] is the stiffness matrix given by

(6.2.32)

The stiffness matrix can be evaluated from the above expression. However, the stiffness matrix also can
be formulated in terms of natural coordinate system using interpolation functions. In such case, the
numerical integration needs to be carried out using Gauss Quadrature rule. Thus, after finding nodal
displacement, the stresses will be obtained at the Gauss points which need to extrapolate to their
corresponding nodes of the elements. By the use of stress smoothening technique, the various nodal
stresses in the plate structure can be determined.