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Improvement on MITC3 plate finite element using edge-based strain smoothing enhancement for plate analysis

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Abstract

An improved three-node triangular plate finite element is presented for plate analysis. The key idea is to enhance the performance of the original MITC3 element with an edge-based strain smoothing technique. To address this derivation, the MITC3 is explicitly formulated to obtain constant gradient matrices. All strain fields are then averaged over edge-based integration domains defined by two nodes of an element’s edge and the centroid(s) of element(s) sharing the element’s edge. A stabilized coefficient factor is also used for the shearing stiffness. We name this element as ES-MITC3, and it is then employed to analyze various plate problems under static loading and free vibration. Numerical results show that the ES-MITC3 element is free of “shear locking” and performs well for static and vibration behaviors. The present element exhibits a good competitor with other several existing three-node triangular plate elements, even the four-node MITC4 element.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering, HCMC University of Technology and Education, 1 Vo Van Ngan Street, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Thanh Chau-Dinh

  2. POSCO E&C - VIETNAM, Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam

    Quang Nguyen-Duy

  3. Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam

    Hung Nguyen-Xuan

  4. Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402, Taiwan

    Hung Nguyen-Xuan

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  1. Thanh Chau-Dinh
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  2. Quang Nguyen-Duy
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  3. Hung Nguyen-Xuan
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Correspondence to Thanh Chau-Dinh or Hung Nguyen-Xuan.

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Chau-Dinh, T., Nguyen-Duy, Q. & Nguyen-Xuan, H. Improvement on MITC3 plate finite element using edge-based strain smoothing enhancement for plate analysis. Acta Mech 228, 2141–2163 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-017-1818-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-017-1818-3

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