FIELD- AND EDGE-CONSISTENCY SYNTHESIS OF A 4-NODE QUADRILATERAL PLATE BENDING ELEMENT.

In this paper, we demonstrate the use of two conceptual principles, the field-consistency requirement and the edge-consistency requirement, as the basis for deriving a 4-noded quadrilateral plate bending element based on Mindlin plate theory using Jacobean transformations only. The derivation is now free of the use of such devices as strain-interpolation points and Hrennikoff strain reference lines, etc. , which have been the basis for many recent formulations of this element. Numerical experiments show that this synthesis produces an element that should be identical to other recent formulations of this element based on tensorial transformations or on shear constraint condensation on the edges, but now given a more complete and formal logical basis