Variational differential quadrature: A technique to simplify numerical analysis of structures

A new solution method in the area of computational mechanics is developed in this article, which is called variational differential quadrature (VDQ). The main idea of this method is based on the accurate and direct discretization of the energy functional in the structural mechanics. In the VDQ method, through developing an efficient matrix formulation and using an accurate integral operator, the discretized governing equations are derived directly from the weak form of the equations with no need for the analytical derivation of the strong form. This technique provides an alternative way to discretize the energy functional, which avoids the local interpolation and the assembly process of the methods of this kind. We first implement the VDQ method for the nonlinear elasticity theory considering the Green-St. Venant strain tensor; then we simplify the formulation further for the first-order shear deformable beam and plate theories. The final formulation of these cases demonstrates the simplicity of the implementation for the VDQ method in the numerical analysis of the structures, which is a major goal for this article. Using these examples, one can easily learn and apply this technique to other structures. To assess the performance of the VDQ method, we compare it with the generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method and finite element method (FEM) in the case of bending analysis of Mindlin plates. It is indicated that computational cost of VDQ is less than that of GDQ, and the convergence rate of VDQ is faster than that of FEM.