A wavelet-based stochastic finite element method of thin plate bending

A wavelet-based stochastic finite element method is presented for the bending analysis of thin plates. The wavelet scaling functions of spline wavelets are selected to construct the displacement interpolation functions of a rectangular thin plate element and the displacement shape functions are expressed by the spline wavelets. A new wavelet-based finite element formulation of thin plate bending is developed by using the virtual work principle. A wavelet-based stochastic finite element method that combines the proposed wavelet-based finite element method with Monte Carlo method is further formulated. With the aid of the wavelet-based stochastic finite element method, the present paper can deal with the problem of thin plate response variability resulting from the spatial variability of the material properties when it is subjected to static loads of uncertain nature. Numerical examples of thin plate bending have demonstrated that the proposed wavelet-based stochastic finite element method can achieve a high numerical accuracy and converges fast.