The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

The Analysis of Moderately Thick to Thin Shells by the Finite Element Method

Pawsey, Stuart F.

UCB/SESM-1970/12, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1970-08, 193 pages

A three dimensional finite element is adapted to represent a curved shell element of arbitrary geometry with the conventional five degrees of freedom per node. The numerical integration of the strain energy is performed separately for each strain energy component, resulting in an efficient shell element for either moderately thick or thin shells. Four variational principles applying to the linear theory of elasticity are given. Using two of these prnciples an examination of the efficiency of one class of mixed model is made. Using the displacement method, the performance of a shell element derived from a three dimensional element is discussed.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/SEMM/SEMM-70-12.pdf (7 MB)