ON THE ACCURACY OF P-VERSION ELEMENTS FOR THE REISSNER-MINDLIN PLATE PROBLEM

This paper addresses the question of accuracy of p-version finite elem ent formulations for Reissner-Mindlin plate problems. Three model prob lems, a circular arc, a rhombic plate and a geometrically complex stru cture are investigated. Whereas displacements and bending moments turn out to be very accurate without any postprocessing even for very coar se meshes, the quality of sheer forces computed from constitutive equa tions is poor. It is shown that significantly improved results can be obtained, if shear forces are computed from equilibrium equations inst ead. A consistent computation of second derivatives of the shape funct ions is derived. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.