Three-node triangular shell element using mixed formulation and its implementation by free mesh method

A new three-node triangular shell element based on the discrete Kirchhoff theory and mixed method is proposed and implemented using the free mesh method (FMM). The free mesh method is a virtually meshless method in which a local mesh generator and the node-by-node finite element method are combined. The goal of the present study is to perform stress analysis of general shell structures using the FMM. A number of specific techniques for treating general shell structures by the FMM are also proposed. Benchmark problems are solved by the proposed shell element implemented via the FMM combined with the dynamic explicit method, and the performance of the proposed method is demonstrated.