Global-local analysis of laminated plates by node-dependent kinematic finite elements with variable ESL/LW capabilities

This work presents a class of plate finite elements (FEs) formulated with node-dependent kinematics, which can be used to construct global-local models with high numerical efficiency. Taking advantage of Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), plate theory kinematics can be individually defined on each FE node, realizing a variation of refinement levels within the in-plane domain of one element. When used in the bridging zone between a global model and a locally refined one, an efficient global-local model can be constructed. Elements with variable ESL/LW kinematics from node to node are developed and applied in the global-local analysis of laminated structures. This work includes numerical examples in which LW models with refined kinematics are employed in local regions while ESL models are adopted in the less critical area, and modeling domains are connected by transition zone composed of elements with node-dependent kinematics. The obtained results are compared with solutions from literature and 3D FE modeling. For laminated plates with local effects to be considered, the proposed plate models can reduce the computational costs significantly while guaranteeing numerical accuracy without using special global-local coupling methods.