The MITC3+ shell element enriched in membrane displacements by interpolation covers

In this paper, we significantly improve the membrane behavior of the previously published 3-node triangular MITC3+ shell element through the use of interpolation covers. We give the formulation of the improved MITC3+ element for linear and nonlinear large displacement analyses. The 3-node shell element passes the basic tests, namely the isotropy, patch, and zero energy mode tests, and we illustrate the excellent performance of the element in various standard test problems.