Review Article

Proc IMechE Part K:

J Multi-body Dynamics
Research status and prospect of plate 2022, Vol. 236(3) 357–367
© IMechE 2022
elements in absolute nodal coordinate Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
formulation DOI: 10.1177/14644193221098866
journals.sagepub.com/home/pik

Zhaowei Zhang1,2,3 , Wu Ren4 and Weijia Zhou1,2,3

Abstract
The Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation (ANCF) is a milestone in the study of flexible multibody dynamics and is of
great significance for the study of the dynamics of multi-flexible systems, of which the plate element is an important part.
In this article, the construction and principles of this type of element are systematically traced, the types of elements that
have been studied are summarized, and the research history of the element locking problem and extended applications in
different fields are briefly described. Through the systematic summary, the shortcomings in the current research and
application of the element are identified, and some suggestions for future theoretical research on the plate element
are given. The functional expansion of the plate element under the conditions of constraints, materials and physical fields
as well as practical engineering applications are discussed.

Keywords
Absolute nodal coordinate formulation, dynamics of flexible multibody systems, plate element, locking problem, dynamic
modeling
Date received: 15 January 2022; accepted: 13 April 2022

Introduction "shell element" is an element with deformation both

ANCF was firstly proposed by Shabana as a research1
method applied to the dynamics of flexible systems. The
theoretical basis of the method is continuum mechanics
and the Finite Element Method (FEM). The position
vector coordinates and slope vector coordinates of the
element nodes are chosen as generalized coordinates to
define the deformation of the flexible components in
global coordinate system, which effectively avoids the
parameterization problem of finite rotation. A unified
interpolation function is used to describe the wide-range
rotation and deformation of the flexible body, which
accurately reflects the geometric nonlinearity in the
dynamics of the flexible part. The mass matrix constructed
by this method is constant, which avoids the Coriolis force
and centrifugal force terms in the kinetic equation.2 This
method is a milestone in the research history of the
dynamics of flexible systems and is one of the current
research hot spots in the dynamics of multi-flexible
systems.3–7
In FEM, plate elements have been widely used in
engineering as an important class of elements.8,9 Since
1997, the plate element in ANCF has also been recognized
and promoted by many researches,10–12 and the method
was initially used for structural problems. By the way, a
"plate element" is defined as an element with deformation
only perpendicular to the element surface in FEM, while a
in-plane and out-plane.8,13 Considering that the literature
cited is more commonly expressed as "plate element",
the latter is expressed as unified. In 2009, Dmitrochenko
and Mikkola14 proposed a series of ANCF plate elements
based on the traditional FEM, which shows the feasibility
of this direct element transformation. Therefore,
Dmitrochenko proposed a nomenclature method of
ANCF according to the naming rules of the FEM,15,16
which can be used as a generalization of the initial
element types. After decades of years, various elements
and their properties have been gradually pushed out and
improved.
However, there is a lack of systematic review on ele-
ments’ type, properties and applications. Thus, an
element library can be established against the current
research, which is not yet sufficient.15,16 Besides, the
1
Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Shenyang, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China
3
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
4
Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
Corresponding author:
Zhaowei Zhang, State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of
Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Email: zhangzhaowei@sia.cn
358
locking problem in ANCF is important,17,18 which has
been discussed by many scholars and raised many new
elements. In addition, the applications and verifications
of plate elements, which should be summarized, have
not received systematic argumentation in previous
reviews on ANCF.5,6
Thus, this paper summarizes the type of elements
quadrilateral elements and triangular elements in section
2. Each element is labeled according to the numbering
identification method described above. And discussing
the locking problem in the third section. In section 4,
the applications and verification of plate elements are
summarized. And the conclusion and perspective are
located in the last part.
ANCF plate finite elements
For the study of plate elements, a wide variety of elements
with coordinates configurations have been proposed. The
plate elements in ANCF can be divided into quadrilateral
elements and triangular elements according to the shape of
elements. Among them, the quadrilateral plate element is
more suitable for the theory of shape function in elastic
mechanics and has better computational accuracy, while
the triangular element is more applicable to arbitrary geo-
metric surfaces and is easier to apply in engineering.9,19
Study of quadrilateral elements
Among the quadrilateral plate elements in ANCF, they are
mainly divided into two categories according to the under-
lying theory: one is based on the continuum mechanics
approach, which is mainly represented by the fully para-
meterized thick plate elements; the other is based on the
structural plate theory, which can be divided into thin
plate elements based on Kirchhoff plate theory and
shear plate elements based on Reissner-Mindlin plate
theory. Shabana and Christensen10 proposed a quadrilat-
eral plate element with four nodes per element, each
node containing three directional translational coordinates
and two rotational coordinates defined in the global coord-
inate system.
Subsequently, in a report by Mikkola and Shabana,20 a
fully parameterized plate element (No. 4443) was pro-
posed, and the node definition and shape function of
this fully parameterized quadrilateral plate element were
systematically given.21 The node coordinates ej of this
kind of element are defined as follows.

T
∂rTj ∂rTj ∂rTj
ej = rj T (1)
∂x ∂y ∂z
Where j is the node number. Each node contains one
translational vector rTj and three vectors of the tangential
slope ∂rTj / ∂x, ∂rTj / ∂y, ∂rTj / ∂z, for a total of 48 degrees
of freedom (DOF) for four nodes per element. The ele-
ments are derived by applying incomplete fourth-order
polynomials to the form functions, which can guarantee
the slope and position continuity between elements at
Proc IMechE Part K: J Multi-body Dynamics 236(3)
the node positions but not at the element edges. Thus,
they subsequently proposed a new shape function for
quadrilateral elements S22
B and a systematic comparison
of the two methods.21
Later, Dmitrochenko and Pogorelov constructed 48
DOF (No. 3443), 36 DOF (No. 3433) and 27 DOF (No.
3333) elements based on conventional FEM by adding
slope coordinates23,24 and focused on one of them, the
No. 3443 element. This element is a thin-plate element
applying Kirchhoff plate theory, based on the aforemen-
tioned element No. 4443, with its slope perpendicular to
the plate surface changing to a second-order partial
derivative term in-plane, as shown in Eq. 2.

T
∂rTj ∂rTj ∂rTj
ej = rTj (2)
∂x ∂y ∂x∂y
Dufva et al. based on the theory of this kind of thin plate
ignored the second-order gradient term24 in No. 3443
element. This kind of degree deficient element can not
only avoid the high-frequency problem of the fully para-
meterized plate element proposed21 but also substantially
improve the computational efficiency. Hyldahl25 induced
a form function by directly removing the second-order
partial differential term from it in the form function to
ensure the continuity between elements.
The results of thin-plate elements, fully parameterized
elements, and FEM are compared and analyzed by Yoo,
Park26 and Mohammadreza.27 The consistency of the cal-
culation results is discussed, and the advantages of the
ANCF method in the calculation are described. Later,
Dmitrochenko15 based on the nomenclature proposed
two new applicable fully parameterized quadrilateral
plate elements, and showed the sketch of two elements
in Figure 1.
M. K. Matikainen et al. comparatively studied the plate
element No. 444321 and applied it with shear angle.28
Thus, proposed a 60 DOF element (No. 4453) with a high-
order gradient in the thickness direction.29 It was found
that for the fully parameterized element, the self-locking
generated by the material thickness is a generalized phe-
nomenon. However, the proposed high-order element
can effectively improve the slow convergence problem
generated by shear locking and bending locking. Based
on element No. 4423, several elements have been pro-
posed,30 where No. 3423 423
123 and No. 3133 can effectively
avoid thickness locking and transverse shear locking.
Besides, element No. 3423 can be almost completely
free of locking under certain calculation methods,30
which is called a "bilinear shear deformation element".
Later, the calculation of this type of element was verified
by simulation.31
P. Hyldahl proposed the No. 3423423 element and studied it
intensively.32 Ebel, Matikainen33 synthesized three higher-
order elements No. 3433 433 , No. 3453, No. 3463 and later
studied in comparison with No. 3423 433
423(123) , No. 3433(133) ,
423 34
No. 3423 , which prevent shear locking but substantially
increase the degree of freedom of the elements. Besides,
Yu et al.35 proposed a quadrilateral element No. 3433 413
Zhang et al. 359

Figure 1. Two new types of rectangle elements based on nomenclature.15 (a) Element No.4423. (b) Element No. 4463.

Table 1. Statistics of quadrilateral elements.

No. ID. Node. DOF. Nodal Vectors Ref.

1 4443 4 48 r, rx , ry , rz 20,21

2 3443 4 48 r, rx , ry , rxy 24

3 3433 4 36 r, rx , ry 24
15
4 4423 4 24 r, rz
5 4463 4 72 r, rx , ry , rz , rxz , ryz 15

6 3463 4 72 r, rx , ry , rz , rzz , rzzz 33

7 3453 4 60 r, rx , ry , rz , rzz 29
30
8 3423
123 5 30 r, rz
30
9 3423
133 5 33 End nodes: r, rz
Inner nodes: r, rz , rzz
10 3433
413 8 48 r, rx , ry , ra 35
36
11 3423
423 8 48 r, rz
12 3433
433 8 72 r, rz , rzz 33

13 3433
433(133) 9 81 r, rz , rzz 34
34
14 3423
423(123) 9 54 r, rz

with mixed coordinates. This element avoids the curvature
vector generated at the edge nodes and replaced by four
inner nodes, which can avoid the difficulty of calculating
the curvature vector.
In summary, the quadrilateral elements that have been
proposed and demonstrated are listed in Table 1.
Study of triangular elements
The quadrilateral plate element has the property of being
more compatible with the structural shape function.
However, in specific applications, it is often difficult for
quadrilateral elements to have universal applicability,
while triangular elements have obvious advantages.
Dmitrochenko and Pogorelov24 proposed a 27 DOF
triangular plate element (No. 2333) by drawing on the
construction method of the element in FEM. This
element is built based on the Specht shape function
theory. And then, a more simplified 18 DOF triangular
thin plate element is proposed based on the Morley
shape function theory.37 Mohamed from Altair
Engineering Inc. studied and demonstrated the feasibility
of a fully parameterized triangular plate element (No.
4343).38 Based on the nomenclature of elements,
Dmitrochenko proposed two new types of triangular ele-
ments as shown in Figure 2.
After this, Dmitrochenko39 investigated the
extremely simplified 3-node thick plate element (No.
4323). This element, which retains only the gradient
coordinates in the outer direction of the plate surface,
substantially reduces the element’s degree of freedom
and simplifies the computational cost. Based on the
Hermitian 48 DOF element,24 a No. 2343 triangular
thin-plate element40 is proposed, which adds a mixed
gradient term to the nodal coordinates of the triangular
element.
360 Proc IMechE Part K: J Multi-body Dynamics 236(3)

Figure 2. Two new types of triangular elements based on nomenclature.15 (a) Element No.4323 (b) Element No. 4363.

Table 2. Statistics of triangular elements. mechanics approach, while the element with a deficient
gradient can be calculated by the structural mechanics
No. ID. Node. DOF Nodal Vectors Ref.
method.12 The continuum mechanics approach is more
1 2333 3 27 r, rx , ry 24
general in application, but some locking problems and
37
2 2313
313 3 18 r computational difficulties come along.
36
3 4323 3 18 r, rz Schwab et al.19 studied No. 4443 plate elements21 and
4 4343 3 26 r, rx , ry , rz 15
No. 3433.45 It was found that in the modes containing
5 4363 3 54 r, rx , ry , rz , rxz , ryz 15
out-of-plane deformation, the fully parameterized
6 2343 3 36 r, rx , ry , rxy 40
element converges with difficulty, and has locking pro-
36
7 6323
323 6 36 r, rz
blems. The main reason for Poisson locking is the coup-
8 2333
113 4 30 End nodes: r, rx , ry 41

Control point: r
9 3343 4 39 End nodes: r, rx , ry , rz
113
Control point: r
10 4353
113 4 48 End nodes:
r, rx , ry , rz , rzz
Control Point: r
Olshevskiy36 proposed two types of elements, No.
4323 and No. 6623, considering that the main factor of
the nonlinearity of the elastic force is the stress in the
plate, keeping only the transverse gradient deformation
and neglecting the gradient in the tensile direction.
Chang et al.41 proposed an element that can directly
correspond to Bézier triangles by adding a control point
inside the triangular element and extending it with
higher and lower orders. Pappalardo42,43 proposed two
isoparametric triangular plate elements based on this
element to simplify the form function and optimize the
computational while ensuring that the area coordinates
parameter set are consistent with the Cartesian coordinates
parameter set.44 These triangular elements that have been
demonstrated are summarized in Table 2.
Locking problems
In ANCF, a strong nonlinear relationship is presented
between the element elastic force and the generalized
coordinates. And the elastic force for a fully parameter-
ized element can be derived by the general continuum
ling of stresses in different directions. This coupling
41 effect can cause pseudo-stresses during bending and twist-
ing, which can lead to inaccurate results.
41 For the calculation of thick plate elements, it is import-
ant to solve the locking problem between the deformation
in-plane and the deformation in the thickness direction.
The higher-order ANCF elements proposed15,29,30 can
be used to reduce locking phenomena due to the limited
cross-section deformation description of the ANCF
element. Obviously, this approach leads to a significant
increase in computational workloads. Therefore, several
approaches are proposed.
The first method was proposed by Mikkola28 to decom-
pose the coordinates of an arbitrary point as a base of mid-
plane position coordinates and relative mid-plane shear
angles. This method ensures the shear effect in the calcula-
tion of thick plates while avoiding the locking problem
arising from the general continuum mechanics approach.
Later, Matikainen et al.46,47 comparatively studied the dif-
ference between this method and the continuous mechanics
approach. The results showed that the improved method
worked in both shear locking and curvature locking but
could not avoid thicknees locking due to the increase in
thickness. The view of L.K. Abbas et al.,48 on this
finding, also consider that this self-locking phenomenon
cannot be avoided unless Poisson’s ratio of the material is
set to 0. However, this material does not exist in reality.
Hence, this method has limitations on this phenomenon.
The second method is for the calculation of strain by
introducing the locking alleviation techniques, such as
Enhanced Assumed Natural Stress (EAS) method.49
Zhang et al.
Valkeapää30 systematically dissected the types of locking
phenomenon and proposed several elements such as No.
3423. Besides, introducing the application of the general
continuum mechanics approach by the Assumed Natural
Stress and Enhanced Natural Stress.50 Later, the elastic
force is calculated based on the mid-plane method and
EAS, the locking problem can be avoided.51,52 The
unique advantages of this method have also been
applied in practice.53,54 The basic idea was to enrich the
element strain field to improve its non-uniform strain con-
ditions. However, this approach will increase the degree
of freedom of the elements. Shabana17,55 applied the
Strain Split Method (SSM) by suppressing the occlusion
effect in curved structures by decomposing the stress-
strain tensor, and the results showed that this method
can effectively reduce this deviation. However, this
method has just been introduced to the calculation of
plate elements and needs to be studied in more depth.
In addition, O. Dmitrochenko investigated the
Hellinger-Reissner method in addition to the above two
methods, which can effectively avoid the problem of
shear locking while taking into account the plate shear
effect.56 But this method also leads to the neglect of
higher-order terms. Overall, there is not yet a complete
approach to the locking problem.
Function expansion and application
Arbitrary surfaces
For practical engineering applications, there are often
various forms of surfaces. For modeling arbitrary sur-
faces, one of the first is direct modeling, applying existing
elements to approximate the target surface. Based on this
method, Yu et al. applied fully parameterized plate ele-
ments to model surfaces containing initial deformations
and proposed an irregular quadrilateral element allowing
arbitrary positions of four nodes,57 based on which the
deformation problem of assembling thin-walled structures
was studied.58 Wang et al.59 applied the elements of thin
and thick plates and tried to study the deformation
problem containing initial deformation and geometric
uniformity.
A significant feature of ANCF compared to FEM is the
ability to approximate large geometries with a less number
of elements,60 whereas direct modeling methods often
require more elements to match the surface accuracy.
For example, A. H. Bayoumy et al. proposed a method
to model a nonuniform wind turbine blade by fitting it
with six thin-plate elements,61 and the model was able to
fit the surface effectively and achieve good computational
results. However, this need also introduces a new problem,
how to evaluate the deviation between the geometric sur-
faces of the two methods. Given this, the study of seamless
CAD-FEM modeling methods based on B-spline surface
and NURBS surfaces has gained attention.
Mikkola62 found that the 48 DOF thin-plate element24 of
the ANCF element has a direct transformation property with
the B-spline surface. Nada63 expressed that the
361
transformation between 36 DOF thin-plate elements and
fully parameterized thick-plate elements with B-spline sur-
faces is feasible.64 But the transfer still has some differences.
Gantoi, Brown65 parametrized the method of B-spline
surface. Chang et al.41 proposed an element that can directly
convert to Bézier triangles by adding a control point inside
the triangular element of both thin and thick elements. Then,
to avoid the problem of stress and strain discontinuities at
end nodes,43 Wang Tengfei introduced the triangular
element44 into the Beizer surface66 so that the model can
be conducted directly for any initial surface model.
In addition, another approach is to construct specialized
elements. Liu et al.67 proposed a cylindrical shell element
based on the thin-plate element so that it can be used in
kinds of cylinders. However, the practical significance of
such a cylindrical element is limited. Later, together with
D. Yan, a thin-plate element calculation method applying
a curvilinear coordinate system is proposed, which has
more general performance.68 In other fields, Shabana pro-
posed a method to establish a single-element tire model by
applying a plate element or a beam element,69 which sim-
plifies the number of elements to a great extent.70
Apart from these, some new approaches have been
attempted. Such as Pappalardo et al.71 proposed a rational
element based on thin-plate elements, where control
points and weight coefficients are introduced in the
element, thus enabling accurate modeling of complex
geometrical shapes. Lan. et al.72 introduced the normal
vector into the gradient matrix, thus obtaining the com-
pleted form to achieve the addition of initial stress.
Chen. et al.73 introduced the meshless radial point inter-
polation method from solid mechanics and fluid
mechanics into ANCF to solve the problem of arbitrary
surface continuity. Overall, arbitrary surface can be
meshed with various methods.
Applied in materials
In addition to isotropic materials, the commonly used
engineering materials are anisotropic, orthotropic, hyper-
elastic, viscoelastic, composite materials and so on.
Kinds of research on different materials are introduced.
Langerholc et al.74 derived the elastic forces of the
fully parameterized thick element for anisotropic materi-
als based on the continuum mechanics approach. Luo
et al.75 applied thin plate elements to establish the
model of hyperelastic materials and extended it to the
study of dielectric materials76 and later introduced the
application of this part to the study of flexible body
robots.77 Besides, the hyperelastic materials of silicone
rubber78 and the viscoelasticity of materials79 have been
studied.
In addition to single materials, composite materials
made from a combination of multiple materials are also
an important part. Among them, laminates made of differ-
ent materials and orientations are widely used in engineer-
ing because of their structural properties of high specific
weight and specific modulus. The modeling methods of
362
research on this kind of structure are divided into four cat-
egories in total.
The first is to delaminate different materials in the plate
thickness direction of fully parameterized element No.
4443 to carry out the integration of each ply when calcu-
lating the elastic forces using the continuum mechanics
approach. This method was proposed by Liu et al.80
which was the first time that the ANCF method been
applied to study composite laminates. The method was
extended to the modeling of tires81 and the study of
large in-orbit deployable mechanisms.82,83
Secondly, the laminate mechanics model proposed by
Sugiyama and Yamashita et al. applies the elements of
No. 342351 and investigates the tire model based on it
through different perspectives,54,84–86 which can effect-
ively avoid the Poisson locking. It has been currently
applied to the characterization of solar array composite
plate deployment of satellites.87
The third approach is based on thin-plate theory,
neglecting in-plane shear. Nada et al. proposed45 and
used it to investigate structures containing patch-type
piezoelectric laminates.88 Weihua Zhang and Jinyang
Liu applied this method to study the model of the multi-
plate unfolding mechanism.89,90
The last one was first attempted by H.D. Yu,91 for each
layer of the laminate as a structural element layer, by
establishing constrained connections at the nodes, and
this method was applied to study the modeling of compos-
ite members with variable thickness gradients,92 but this
method will substantially increase the computational load.
Structural thickness
Other than the thin plate and thick plate as usually defined
in structural mechanics,93 for the thickness-derived
problem, there are two main directions: variable thickness
and thin membrane. For the problem of variable thickness,
firstly, Abbas and Rui et al. proposed a variable-thickness
quadrilateral plate element48 based on the fully parameter-
ized element, which is suitable for regions where the
thickness does not vary greatly. Later, He et al.94 pro-
posed a modeling method for the local features in ele-
ments, which can be used to study the mechanical
effects of protruding features on large plates,95 which
has been applied to the study of the effect of tire treads.96
In another research direction, when the sheet-like
structure is continuously thinned in thickness, it can be
converted to a membrane structure. Besides, the load on
the surface is also added. The addition of criteria for
folds and relaxation in the thin-plate element leads to
the membrane element, which is applied to the simulation
of membrane systems, such as airbag inflation as well as
solar sails,97,98 and the calculation of unfolding dynamics
of circular membrane solar array.99 Yuan and Liu et al.
used triangular elements of Specht’s shape function to
study the unfolding dynamics of space membrane struc-
ture.100 Nevertheless, membrane structure has a wide
range of applications, and there are more practical techni-
ques and application scenarios that need to be studied.
Proc IMechE Part K: J Multi-body Dynamics 236(3)
Special boundary
Rotating. For flexible members rotating at high speeds,
extra field forces need to be added for the calculation.
First, Zhao et al.101 applied 36 DOF thin-plate element
to calculate the modal of a rotating body, in which the cen-
trifugal force generated by the rotation is loaded on the
element as an external force. Later, this approach was
applied to perform a systematic study of the rotational
unfolding process of a solar sail.98,102,103 Then, it was pro-
moted to the study of the free vibration of rotating
bodies104 and the study of rotating plates with pre-twisted
angle.105 Pappalardo et al.106 proposed an ANCF/CRBF
element with a rotating kinematic field added to the
fully parameterized element, which could avoid the redun-
dancy and high frequency problems of previous methods.
However, with this comes a strongly nonlinear mass
matrix, which will generate nonlinear Coriolis and centri-
fugal inertia forces.
Variable boundary constraints. The problem with variable
boundary constraints contains dynamic contact problems
as well as variable topology problems. P. Hldahl com-
bined the ANCF thin-plate element with the Arbitrary
Lagrange–Euler method to propose an ALE-ANCF
element for solving in-plane varying loads and varying
constraints.25,107 Yamashita et al.86 studied the contact
problem between two surfaces to study the effect of the
action between tires and soil. Subsequently, Wang et al.
respectively studied the contact problem between plate
springs59,72 and the contact problem established based
on triangular elements.100 Otsuka applied thin-plate ele-
ments to model a single-plate unfolding mechanism and
performed simulations of the process under variable topo-
logical constraints108,109 to study the variable topological
mechanism.
Multiphysics field. For multiphysics field effects, the
current researches are mainly focused on thermodynamics
containing thermal factors, and problems related to fluid
dynamics. Abbas et al.110 introduced linearized first-order
potential theory for the calculation of pressure loads on
surfaces, which can be used to study vibrations containing
aerodynamic loads. Then, the effect of heat was intro-
duced and applied to the dynamics calculations of plates
containing aerodynamic heat.111,112 Others, such as
Yamano et al.,113 introduced aerodynamics into thin ele-
ments to study the chattering and energy transformation
of a large plate under fluid flow. Cui et al.114 added a tem-
perature term to the generalized coordinates of the thin
plate element and applied it to study the thermodynamics
of a large antenna on a satellite.
Test and verification
Currently, researches on ANCF plate elements have lasted
for over 20 years, and the verification study of this method
is mainly based on FEM calculation results. The ANCF
relative to the traditional FEM is unique to solving the
Zhang et al.
Figure 3. The test of a flexible plate.26
large deformation problem, conventional methods often
cannot be measured. There are few experimental valida-
tions, and the existing tests can be listed as follows.
Y. Wan-Suk et al. of Pusan University based on the 48
DOF thin-plate element,24 performed a verification using
a high-speed camera to take photos to qualitatively
compare the end displacement variation of a large
deformed thin plate115 and later applied the same
method to perform a comparative test on the configuration
of a rotating flexible body.26 (Figure 3).
Wan et al. of the University of Wight116 applied a 27
DOF triangular thin-plate element to the study on deform-
ation and stress distribution of dragonflies’ wings and
applied photography from a high-speed camera for morpho-
logical comparison. A. A. Nada et al. performed frequency
verification88 for the vibration response of a thin plate con-
taining piezoelectric drive excitation to compare the fre-
quency and amplitude after excitation. H. Yamashita et al.
performed a test comparison for the pressurized deformation
of tires when in a tire research object.85,86 Xu and Liu
et al.78 applied a high-speed binocular camera approach
for the position tracking study of a plate element in free fall.
However, nowadays, the experimentally validated
methods are limited. In traditional methods, the influence
of the weight and stiffness of sensors and cables usually
cannot be ignored for a flexible multibody system.
Currently, the main method is the noncontact method
such as photo measurement, though technical bottlenecks
still exist With the development of vision technology
these years, it is believed that visual measurement can
break through the technical limitations in no time to
achieve high-speed verification of flexible components.
Summary
In this article, various kinds of plate elements are studied
and their characteristics are summarized. Besides, the
locking problem and the extended application for plate ele-
ments on surfaces, materials, thicknesses, and boundary
conditions are discussed. In addition to this, the verification
methods for plate elements are summarized. With the efforts
of many researchers, the study of ANCF for plate elements
has been growing maturity. Since the results are relatively
accurate, these elements are being progressively applied.
However, there are still many works that need to be
done in the future. For the modeling method, a systematic
review of element characteristics is proposed, but different
363
types of elements still cannot be combined. There is no
generic approach or measurement criterion for the
locking question, which leads to some attempts in new
modeling calculations and new locking alleviation techni-
ques. In the experimental verification, mostly, the current
effect is qualitative comparison. And it is urgent to intro-
duce new test techniques to solve the lack of quantitative
and accurate analysis and verification methods. Thus, the
gap to be a commercial software is also remains.
Then talking about the application, this approach in
material nonlinearity (viscoelasticity, viscoplasticity, frac-
ture), constraint nonlinearity (contact, collision, variable
topology), the role of multiphysics field (fluid, thermo-
dynamic, acoustic, explosion, electromagnetic field) coup-
ling research still needs to be explored in depth. The
current research is mainly aimed at aerospace and
ground vehicle parts, partly for biomedical engineering,
while applications in other fields are seldom found.
However, considering the simulation characteristics of
this kind of element, it is believed that there is a wide
range of applications in the fields of life science, electronic
manufacturing, nanostructure, and flexible machinery.
In conclusion, the ANCF is a widely applicable numer-
ical simulation method, which has incomparable unique
advantages in the study of flexible multibody dynamics.
The development of this method is still evolving, and
there is much work to be done on the basic theory and
practical applications.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported the by State Key Laboratory of
Robotics (No. 2020-Z07) and the Youth Innovation Promotion
Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2022202).
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work
was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Youth
Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of
Sciences, (grant number No: 2020-Z07, No. 2022202).
ORCID iD
Zhaowei Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7602-045X
364
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