A new element for analyzing large deformation of thin Naghdi shell model. Part II: Plastic

In this paper a new element is developed that is based on Cosserat theory. In the finite element implementation of Cosserat theory shear locking can occur, especially for very thin shells. In the present investigation the director vector is constrained to remain perpendicular to the mid surface during deformation. It will be shown that this constraint yields accurate results in very large deformation of thin shells also the rate of convergency is very good. For plastic formulation, the model introduced by Simo is used and it has been reduced for constrained director vector and the consistent elasto-plastic tangent moduli is extracted for finite element solution. This model includes both kinematic and isotropic hardening. For numerical investigations an isoparametric nine node element is employed then by linearization of the principle of virtual work, material and geometric stiffness matrices are extracted. The validity and the accuracy of the proposed element is illustrated by the numerical examples and the results are compared with those available in the literature.