Isogeometric shell analysis with NURBS compatible subdivision surfaces

We present a discretisation of Kirchhoff–Love thin shells based on a subdivision algorithm that generalises NURBS to arbitrary topology. The isogeometric framework combines the advantages of both subdivision and NURBS, enabling higher degree analysis on watertight meshes of arbitrary geometry, including conic sections. Because multiple knots are supported, it is possible to benefit from symmetries in the geometry for a more efficient subdivision based analysis. The use of the new subdivision algorithm is an improvement to the flexibility of current isogeometric analysis approaches and allows new use cases.