A new shell element accounting for through-thickness deformation

A new 7-parameter shell model is presented for thick shell applications. Th e model accounts explicitly for the thickness change in the shell, as well as the normal stress and strain through the shell thickness. Large deformat ions are accounted for by using the second Piola-Kirchhoff stress and the G reen-Lagrange strain tensors. An assumed transverse shear strain interpolat ion is used to avoid shear locking. Two new interpolation schemes for the s hell director are developed to avoid thickness locking. These interpolation s are implemented and their consistent linearization is derived. Guidelines are developed for neglecting some of the quadratic terms in the consistent stiffness matrix to minimize computational time. The thick shell element p erformance is tested to show that the higher order terms result in improved accuracy. It also demonstrates that for thin shells, there is no significa nt deterioration in accuracy, compared with traditional 5-parameter shell e lements. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.