3D-shell elements for structures in large strains

We present in this paper MITC shell elements for large strain solutions of shell structures. While we focus on the 4-node element, the same formulation is also applicable to the 3-node element. Since the elements are formulated using three-dimensional continuum theory with the full three-dimensional constitutive behavior, they are referred to as 3D-shell elements. Specific contributions in this paper are that the elements are formulated using two control vectors at each node to describe the large deformations, MITC tying and volume preserving conditions acting directly on the material fiber vectors to avoid shear locking, and a pressure interpolation to circumvent volumetric locking. Also, we present solutions to some large strain shell problems that represent valuable benchmark tests for any large strain shell analysis capability.

► MITC 3D-shell elements for large strain solutions of shell structures are presented. ► The elements are formulated using two control vectors at each node to describe large deformations. ► MITC tying and volume preserving conditions acting directly on material fibers are used. ► Benchmark tests of large strain shell analyses are given.