NONLINEAR-ANALYSIS OF THICK PLATES BY HT FE APPROACH

The paper presents a hybrid-Trefftz finite element (HT FE) model for t he numerical solution of a nonlinear analysis of Reissner-Mindlin plat es. Exact solutions of the Lame-Navier equations are used for represen ting the in-plane intraelement displacement field and an incremental f orm of the basic equations is adopted. With the aid of the incremental form of these equations, all nonlinear terms may be viewed as pseudo- loads, and then the coupling between in-plane and out-of-plane displac ements is separated. As a result, the solution procedure for the nonli near plate becomes very simple. The practical efficiency of the new el ement model has been assessed through several examples. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd