Rotation-free triangular plate and shell elements

Abstract

The paper describes how the finite element method and the finite volume method can be successfully combined to derive two new families of thin plate and shell triangles with translational degrees of freedom as the only nodal variables. The simplest elements of the two families based on combining a linear interpolation of displacements with cell centred and cell vertex finite volume schemes are presented in detail. Examples of the good performance of the new rotation-free plate and shell triangles are given. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.