General non-linear finite element analysis of thick plates and shells

AbstractA non-linear finite element analysis is presented, for the elasto-plastic behavior of thick shells and plates including the effect of large rotations. The shell constitutive equations developed previously by the authors [Voyiadjis, G.Z., Woelke, P., 2004. A refined theory for thick spherical shells. Int. J. Solids Struct. 41, 3747–3769] are adopted here as a base for the formulation. A simple C0 quadrilateral, doubly curved shell element developed in the authors’ previous paper [Woelke, P., Voyiadjis, G.Z., submitted for publication. Shell element based on the refined theory for thick spherical shells] is extended here to account for geometric and material non-linearities. The small strain geometric non-linearities are taken into account by means of the updated Lagrangian method. In the treatment of material non-linearities the authors adopt: (i) a non-layered approach and a plastic node method [Ueda, Y., Yao, T., 1982. The plastic node method of plastic analysis. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 34, 1089–1104], (ii) an Iliushin’s yield function expressed in terms of stress resultants and stress couples [Iliushin, A.A., 1956. Plastichnost’. Gostekhizdat, Moscow], modified to investigate the development of plastic deformations across the thickness, as well as the influence of the transverse shear forces on plastic behaviour of plates and shells, (iii) isotropic and kinematic hardening rules with the latter derived on the basis of the Armstrong and Frederick evolution equation of backstress [Armstrong, P.J., Frederick, C.O., 1966. A mathematical representation of the multiaxial Bauschinger effect. (CEGB Report RD/B/N/731). Berkeley Laboratories. R&D Department, California.], and reproducing the Bauschinger effect. By means of a quasi-conforming technique, shear and membrane locking are prevented and the tangent stiffness matrix is given explicitly, i.e., no numerical integration is employed. This makes the current formulation not only mathematically consistent and accurate for a variety of applications, but also computationally extremely efficient and attractive