Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 110 (1993) 195-209

North-Holland

Quadrilateral finite elements for analysis of thick

and thin plates
Adnan Ibrahimbegovid
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, LSC, GC, A2, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

Received 21 May 1991

We discuss two quadrilateral plate elements applicable in the analysis of both thick and thin plates. The elements
are based on Reissner-Mindlin plate theory and an enhanced displacement interpolation, which enables the
consistent loading vector to be constructed. The constraint on the constant shear strain is enforced explicitly thus
eliminating the shear locking phenomena in the analysis of thin plates. As a by-product of this work, we take a new
look at a well-known discrete Kirchhoff plate element.

I. Introduction

The early approach to the finite element analysis of plates relied mostly on the Kirchhoff thin plate
theory. The plate finite element based on Kirchhoff plate theory requires the displacement and its
derivatives to be continuous across element boundaries. This required quite an ingenious procedure for
constructing the interpolation of this kind with a limited number of possible choices. Therefore, many
recent works (e.g. see [1-5]) have turned towards the Reissner [6]-Mindlin [7] plate theory as a starting
point of the finite element discretization in order to reduce the continuity requirements on the
displacement interpolation.
Another very important reason for favoring the Reissner-Mindlin versus Kirchhoff plate theory is
that we normally obtain a more reliable representation of the three-dimensional solution. Namely, the
Kirchhoff plate model does not take the shear deformations into account, so that it should not be used
in an analysis of thick plates. Moreover, Babugka and Scapolia [8] pointed out the inaccuracy of the
Kirchhoff plate model which occurs in the analysis of skewed plates, even when they are thin.
In the finite element implementation of Reissner-Mindlin plates, however, one is faced with the
problem of the incapability of the discrete model to capture the limit behavior of thin plate model, i.e.
the Kirchhoff constraint. Typically a very stiff response is obtained and this phenomenon is referred to
as shear locking. The first completely successful solution to the shear locking problem emerged as a
clever ad-hoc engineering approach of 'assumed strain method' of Hughes and Tezduyar [3], which
considers a direct interpolation for shear strain not necessarily consistent with the interpolation schemes
for the displacements and rotations. Subsequently, the assumed strain method was put into proper
variational framework by Simo and Hughes [9]. The relationship of the assumed strain method and the
mixed method are discussed in [5] and the convergence study of several Reissner-Mindlin plate
elements which employ an assumed shear strain interpolation is performed by Brezzi and co-workers

[21.
However, in the assumed strain method, the underlying displacement interpolation of the order
which is consistent with the assumed shear strain field is not clearly identified and it is not clear what is
the proper definition of the consistent loading and the consistent mass. In this work, we present two
quadrilateral plate elements with explicitly defined hierarchical displacement and rotation interpolations
which appear consistent with the assumed strain field. For one of these elements, the displacement
interpolation is given as a concise form of the expressions that appeared in [4]. The corresponding shear
Correspondence to: Dr. Adnan Ibrahimbegovid, LSC/EPFL, GC Az/Ecublens, CH 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

0045-7825/93/$06,00 (~) 1993 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

196

A. Ibrahimbegovi6, Quadrilateral finite elements

strain interpolation is capable of reproducing the constant shear strain state and the Kirchhoff
constraint in the limit case of a thin plate. As a by-product of this work, we arrive at a consistent
displacement interpolation for the well-known discrete Kirchhoff element [10].
The outline of the paper is as follows. The motivation for the present methodology is briefly
explained in Section 2 on the pertinent problem of a Timoshenko [11] beam. In Section 3, we discuss
the Reissner-Mindlin plate elements. In the same section we give a new derivation for the discrete
Kirchhoff plate element. Numerical evaluation of the plate elements is presented in Section 4. Some
closing remarks are stated in Section 5.

2. Timoshenko beam elements

2.1. B e a m element with quadratic displacement field

We first consider a two-node Timoshenko beam presented in Fig. 1. The reference configuration is
determined with
(2.1)

x = N , ( r ) x I + N2(r)x 2 ,

where

N,(r) = ~ ( 1 - r ) ,

Nz(r)=~(1 +r),

(2.2)

r E[-1,1].

In order to construct the displacement and rotation interpolation free of shear locking, the 'Kirchhoff
mode' [12] must be attainable. Therefore the displacement interpolation should be polynomial of order
one degree higher than the polynomial which interpolates the rotations. Hence, if the assumed rotation
field is linear,
(2.3)

O = N , ( r ) O , +Nz(r)Oz,

then the displacement field must be quadratic

w = N , ( r ) w t + N2(r)w 2 + N3(r ) Aw 3 ,

(2.4)

N3(r ) = 1 - r z

(2.5)

where

and Aw 3 is the hierarchical mid-side displacement.

Using the displacement (2.4) and the rotation interpolation (2.3), we obtain the discrete approximation for the curvature
dO
K-dx-

1
l (02-0')'

(2.6)

l=x 2-x I

and the shear strain

dw
I
y=---~--O=--[(w2-wl)-2(O

, +Oz)+r

[1

2(0,-02)-

Fig. 1. Timoshenko beam element.

Aw 3 .

11.

(2.7)

A. Ibrahimbegovi6, Quadrilateral finite elements

197

If we use an isoparametric displacement interpolation (Aw 3 = 0 ) , then, considering (2.7), it is

impossible to have a constant shear strain unless 02 = 0~. However, by virtue of (2.6) this will lead to an
overly stiff bending response, i.e. shear locking phenomenon. For a nonzero value of aw 3, balancing of
the terms in the brackets will eliminate shear locking. However, another way to remove the shear
locking at the outset, is by constraining the term enclosed in the brackets in (2.7) to zero, which yields a
hierarchical displacement interpolation
(2.8)

w = N , ( r ) w , + Nz(r)w z + N3(r) 1 (01 - 02).

2.2. B e a m element with cubic displacement field

To obtain a beam element with cubic displacement field, we proceed from the interpolations (2.3)
and (2.8) extending them in a natural way to obtain the hierarchical rotation interpolation in the form
of a quadratic polynomial
(2.9)

0 = Nl(r)O 1 + N2(r)O 2 + N3(r ) A03

and the hierarchical displacement interpolation in the form of a cubic polynomial

l

w = N , ( r ) w 1 + N2(r)w 2 + N3(r ) ~ (0, - 02) + N4(r)al AO3 ,

(2.10)

N4(r ) = r(1 - r2).

(2.11)

where

An additional rotation interpolation parameter A03 is relative to the rotation field given by (2.3) and
ot in (2.10) is a yet undetermined parameter. If we impose again the same constant shear strain
constraint along the beam
dw
1
1
3, = ~ - 0 = 7 (w_, - w~) + 2a(1 - 3r 2) A03 - ~ (0~ + 02) - (1 - r 2) A03 ,

(2.12)

we find that a = 1/6. Therefore, the hierarchical displacement interpolation (2.10) becomes
l

w = N l ( r ) w , + N2(r)w 2 + N3(r ) ~ (0, - 02) + -~ N4(r ) A03 .

(2.13)

It is easy to check that the interpolation (2.13) for w is the exact solution for the adjoint differential
equation of the Timoshenko beam. Therefore, using this interpolation, the exact solution for the
displacements at the nodal points is obtained for an arbitrary loading (see [13, p. 601]). Indeed, this was
manifested in all the numerical examples presented in [12], where the beam element of this kind was
developed.
The presented interpolation schemes are next extended to the Reissner-Mindlin plate elements. This
is considered ip the next section.

3. Reissner-Mindlin plate elements

The variational formulation for the Reissner-Mindlin plate theory is given by (e.g. see [14])

-fn

ff)fdO=0,

i,y,k, lE{1,2},

(3.1)

A. Ibrahimbegovi6, Quadrilateral finite elements

198

where the curvature tensor % is related to the director rotation/3; via

1 ( 0[3i
Kij .~-"~~~Xj -t- ~ )

(3.2)

and the director rotation is related to the right-hand-rule rotation vector via an alternating tensor eq

/3i=e#Oj,

e#=

+1

"

(3.3)

In (3.1), y,. are shear strain components

OW

= Oxi /3i.

(3.4)

For simplicity, in (3.1) we assumed linear elastic constitutive equations and the Dirichlet boundary
value problem with the homogeneous boundary conditions. However, the discussion to follow applies
to more general constitutive equations and other kinds of boundary conditions as well.
The discrete formulation which corresponds to (3.1) is

DH(wh,Oh)'( ~h, oh)= fa,,~chtctJKh dg-2+ fa,, ~,htcSyh dg2-- fa,, ~hf dO=O.

(3.5)

The mapping of generalized strain measures which is introduced in the discrete formulation (3.5), i.e.
,,,,--, K" = ( -oo2 / ox , ; oo,/Ox2; oo~ / ox ,

(3.6)

oo,../ Ox2 ) t

and

"~"-" Y" = (','~; Y2)'

(3.7)

determines the form of the constitutive matrices C B and C s. For example, in the case of an isotropic
linear elastic plate

CB _

Et 3
1 2 ( 1 - v 2)

ro0u l 01,
L

--5--d

'

cs

Etc
2(1+v)

Earl '

(3.8)

where t is the plate thickness, E is Young's modulus and v is Poisson's ratio. The shear correction factor
c is usually set to 5/6.
Superscript h in (3.5) is the mesh parameter which is usually used to denote the quantities in the
discrete approximation. To simplify the notation in the subsequent discussion of the discrete
formulation, we drop superscript h.
An appropriate variational framework for the kind of interpolations described in the following
section, should also include the shear forces as additional dependent variables (see [9]). However,
imposing the orthogonality condition (see [9]), the shear force field is eliminated from the final form of
variational equations, and one need not consider its interpolation.

3.1. Plate element with quadratic displacement interpolation

We consider a four-node quadrilateral plate element in Fig. 2. The reference configuration of the
element is defined by the bilinear mapping
4

x = ~, N,(r, s)x,,
I=1

(3.9)

A. lbrahimbegovid. Quadrilateralfinite elements

M2ti~

199

1112

\.7 ....

0~

,,

4i ~

,r"I

u,

.ci

Fig. 2. Plate element with quadratic displacement interpolation.

Fig. 3. Plate element with cubic displacement interpolation.

where x = (xt; X2) t is the vector of the local coordinates, x I are nodal values of that vector, and Nl(r, s)
are standard bilinear shape functions (e.g. see [13])
1

Nt(r,s)=~(l+r#r)(l+sls

),

I=1 .....

4.

(3.10)

Natural coordinates (r, s) are defined on the interval { - 1 , 1}.

The displacement and the rotation interpolation are constructed by generalizing the Timoshenko
beam interpolations (2.8) and (2.3) to obtain
I011
02 = 0 = ~4 Nl(r,s)O I
/=1

(3.11)

for the discrete approximation of the rotation field in terms of nodal rotations 0t and

w=

I=1

IjK

Nl(r, s)w i "31- 2

L=5

NL(r, s) y

njK(O~ -- Or)

(3.12)

for the hierarchical displacement interpolation, where l~r and n~r are, respectively, the length and the
outward unit normal vector for the plate element edge between the corner nodes J and K (see Fig. 2),
defined by
I j K = ( ( X K I - - X ~ I ) 2 "q-(XK2--Xj2)2) (112) ,

[ cOS OtJK]

n j r = Lsin OtjKd "

(3.13)

The corner nodes J and K can be defined by a FORTRAN-like expression

L=5,6,7,8,

J=L-4,

K=mod(L,4)+l.

(3.14)

In (3.12), we also use serendipity shape functions [13]

1

NL(r,s)=~'(1--r2)(I
1

NL(r,s)=-~(1--s2)(l

+SLS ),

L=5,7,

(3.15)

+ rLr ),

L=6,8,

(3.16)

The displacement interpolation (3.12) can be rewritten as a more compact form of the interpolations
suggested in [4]

200

A. lbrahimbegovir. Quadrilateral finite elements

4

(3.17)

w = E Nt(r,s)wt + E filt(r,s)Ot,
/=1

/=l

where
(3.18)

filt(r,s)=NM(r,s)~ntts--NL(r,s)~-nttK,
with indices in (3.18) being defined as
I = 1 . . . . . 4, J = m o d ( l , 4 ) + l ,

K=l-l+4int(1/l),

L=K+4,

M=I+4.

(3.19)

The curvature vector is determined by substituting (3.11) into (3.6) to obtain

[wg
K = ~ Bt(r,s)u,,

u,=

Oft

(3.20)

LO2tj

,:,

where B t has the form

Bi(r,s)=

0
0
0

0
aNt(r,s)/ax-,
aNt(r,s)/ax ,

- aNt(r, s ) / a x l ]
0

(3.21)

-aNt(r,s)lax-,I

For the Timoshenko beam element hierarchical displacement interpolation, (2.8) and (2.13) are
sufficient to alleviate shear locking. However, if the plate element is constructed with a similar
hierarchical interpolation [4], the shear locking is still present. Some remedies to shear locking are the
use of adjusted parameters [4] or an explicit enforcement of the constant shear strain [15]. However,
the most robust method for alleviating the shear locking is by using assumed shear strain (see e.g.
[1,3]), which is also adopted in this work.
We choose a bilinear distribution for the assumed shear strain in the form

3,i]

3'2 = 2/= 2 Nt(r, s),,

(3.22 /

/=1

where nodal parameters ~'t are computed to be consistent with the constant shear strain distribution
along each edge. For a typical node I, we obtain
"Yt - ttHnlh"

nHw~: + ~H ntKws --

nw +

ntK wt

(3.23)

where indices are again defined by (3.19). The detailed derivation of this equation is given in Appendix
A. We note that the proposed shear strain interpolation (3.22) corresponds to the T1 plate element of
Hughes and Tezduyar [3]. For undistorted configuration this element performs very similarly to that
presented by Ibrahimbegovi6 and Wilson [15].
After applying constraint (3.23) for each edge, we obtain

r=~

4 /~t(r,s)ut,
,='

ut=

FWg
0it .

(3.24)

LO2tj

Having defined the matrix notation (3.20) and (3.24), the element stiffness matrix can be obtained
from (3.5) as

A. lbrahimbegovid,Quadrilateralfinite elements
KH=

~.O

Bl(r,s)CSBj(r,s)d12+

f,O

At

S^

Bt(r,s)C B~(r,s) dO,

l , J = l . . . . . 4.

201

(3.25)

By using the matrix notation (3.17), the load vector can be computed as
fi = fa, [Nt(r' s); 1tit(r,s)]tf d O ,

(3.26)

I = 1. . . . . 4.

We will denote the loading vector in (3.26) as consistent, although the consistency does not strictly
apply in computation of the assumed shear strain in (3.24) with displacements in (3.11) and (3.12). The
term consistent is used rather to be able to distinguish from the commonly used lumped loading
approximation, which is obtained from (3.26) when/~/~ is omitted.
Similarly, if dynamic analysis is performed, we would compute the mass matrix with

MH = fn, [at(r' s)]tpt[Aj(r' s)] d O ,

I, J = 1 . . . . . 4,

(3.27)

where p is the mass density and

At= |Nt~,s,)r (r
L

Nt(r,s)= Nt(r,s) I

~rt(r,s)]
Nt(r, s)J '

(3.28)

3.2. Plate element with cubic displacement interpolation

We refer to Fig. 3 to note that the element reference configuration is again given by bilinear mapping
(3.9). The displacement and rotation interpolations are provided by generalizing the Timoshenko beam
interpolations (2.9) and (2.13). The rotation is interpolated as an incomplete quadratic polynomial

[]

O, = 0 = ~ Nt(r, s)Ot + ~ NL(r, s)nlK AOjK,

82

l=1

(3.29)

L =5

where AOjr are hierarchical rotations, edge degrees of freedom, for the element edge between corner
nodes J and K, while Nt(r, s), I = 1 . . . . . 4, are bilinear and NL(r, s), L = 5 . . . . . 8, are serendipity
shape functions given by (3.10), (3.15) and (3.16). A unique unit normal vector njr must be selected
for each side between corner nodes J and K, so that AOjKis properly shared between adjacent elements.
The displacement interpolation is

4
8
IJr t
s
l~r
w= ~ Nt(r,s)wt + ~, NL(r,s)-~-njr(~--Or)+ ~ ML(r's) o A O ~ r '
/=1

where

L=5

ML(r,s ) = ~ ( I +sLs)r(1-r2),
1

ML(r,s)=~-(l+rLr)s(1--s2),

L=5

(3.30)

L=5,7,

(3.31)

L=6,8.

(3.32)

The indices in (3.29) and (3.30) are again determined by expressions in (3.14).
The assumed shear strain interpolation again has the bilinear form (3.22) and the nodal shear
interpolation parameters are given by
r, =

n,, AO,, - 3 n,K A O .

where y~' are given by (3.23). The indices in (3.33) are defined by (3.19).

(3.33)

202

A. lbrahimbegovi6. Quadrilateralfinite elements

Having defined the preceding interpolation schemes for the cubic element, the stiffness matrix, the
consistent mass matrix and the consistent load vector can be obtained in the same manner as for the
quadratic element. See (3.25), (3.26) and (3.27). In this case, however, the total number of element
degrees of freedom is increased by four mid-side hierarchical rotations.
3.3. Discrete Kirchhoff plate element
In this section, we give a new derivation for the well-known discrete Kirchhoff plate element [10].
First we consider the Timoshenko beam element with cubic displacement interpolation (2.13) and
quadratic interpolation (2.9) for the independent rotation field. If we impose that the shear strain in
(2.12) must be equal to zero, we obtain a condition for evaluating the hierarchical rotation,
3

A03 = " ~ (W 2 -- Wl) -- "~- (01 + 0 2 ) .

(3.34)

Imposing the same constraint of vanishing shear strain along every side of the plate element, for a
typical element side between corner nodes J and K, we obtain

3 (w~

AOj~ = 2IjK

--

wj)- 3

-~n~K(Oj+OK).

(3.35)

Utilizing (3.35) to eliminate mid-side hierarchical rotations in the Reissner-Mindlin plate element,
from (3.29) we obtain a new interpolation for the rotation field

o = Y~ Nt(r, s)O, + ~ N,.(,', s)

1=1

n~,,(w,, - w~) - - 4 n~,,n~,,(O~ + 0,,1

L=5

(3.36)

with indices in (3.36) varying according to (3.14). Note that in (3.36), Nl(r,s ), I = 1 . . . . . . 4, are
bilinear and NL(r, s), L = 5 . . . . . 8, are serendipity shape functions defined by (3.10), (3.15) and (3.16),
which give an 8-node serendipity element interpolation, but written in hierarchical form. The
expression for the rotation field interpolation of Batoz and Tahar [10] is recovered, if one uses the
classical form of the shape functions in the 8-node serendipity element (see [13]). Therefore, the
interpolation for the rotation field (3.36) is precisely the one for the discrete Kirchhoff plate element.
This expression can be used [16] to derive a unified formulation for both triangular and quadrilateral
discrete Kirchhoff plate elements. The triangular discrete Kirchhoff plate element [17] is recovered by
simply degenerating the quadrilateral.
Similarly, we can use the constraint (3.35) to eliminate mid-side rotations in the displacement
interpolation (3.30) of the Reissner-Mindlin plate element and obtain a consistent displacement
interpolation for the discrete Kirchhoff plate element
4

Ij K

w = ~ N,(r,s)w t + ~ NL(r,s)-'-8-njK(Og --OK)

/=1

+ ~. ML(r,s)
L=5

L=5

(WK--Wj)----~--njK(Oj+OK)

(3.37)

where ML(r , s), L = 5 . . . . . 8, are hierarchical cubic shape functions defined by (3.31) and (3.32).
The interpolations for the displacement (3.37) and the rotations (3.36) can be used in computing the
consistent loading and consistent mass matrix for the discrete Kirchhoff plate element, in the same way
as defined in (3.26) and (3.27).
Note that the chosen displacement and rotations interpolations yield vanishing shear strain along
every element side. Thus, following the procedure presented in Appendix A, we obtain the assumed
shear strain interpolation with all the nodal shear interpolation parameters "/i equal to zero, and the
contribution of the shear strain to the element stiffness matrix in (3.25) drops out. Therefore, the

A. Ibrahimbegovi~, Quadrilateral finite elements

203

discrete Kirchhoff plate element fits in a consistent way within a more general framework of
Reissner-Mindlin plate elements discussed above.

4. Numerical examples
Several numerical examples are solved with both elements presented. The plate element with
quadratic displacement interpolation is denoted PQ2 and the element with cubic displacement
interpolation is denoted PQ3. We have solved the problems for both thick and thin plates to
demonstrate that the presented elements do not exhibit shear locking. All computations are performed
using the computer program FELINA [18] on a VAX11/780 under the VMS operating system.
It is important to note that 2 x 2 Gaussian quadrature is used on both elements in all the
computations we performed.

4.1. Patch test

First, we checked that both plate elements, PQ2 and PQ3, pass the patch test [19]. For that purpose,
a square patch of distorted elements is subjected first to pure bending, and then to pure twist.

4.2. Uniform loading on simply supported square plate

The test problem of a simply supported square plate under uniform loading is used to point out the
difference in using what we called the consistent loading defined in (3.26) versus the lumped loading
which is obtained if in (3.26) we drop the displacement dependence on nodal interpolation parameters
for the rotations. Most of the assumed strain based elements, including the discrete Kirchhoff, use what
we call lumped loading. The same example is used to compare our elements with the discrete Kirchhoff
element and, for that reason, only so-called hard simply supported boundary conditions are used with
w = 0 and 0n = 0 .
The plate is made of linear elastic isotropic material, with Young's modulus E = 10.92 and Poisson's
ratio v = 0.3. The side length a = 10 and two values for the plate thickness t = 0.1 (thin plate) and t = 1
(thick plate) are selected. The analytical solution for the thin plate is given in [20] and it can be easily
corrected to account for shear deformation to obtain the solution for the thick plate.
The numerical results are obtained for both plate elements presented here by modeling one quadrant
using uniform finite element meshes (see Fig. 4). The results are presented in Table 1 for the thin plate
and in Table 2 for the thick plate along with the results obtained by the discrete Kirchhoff element [10].
First we want to comment on using consistent versus lumped loading. The results obtained by
element PQ2 using lumped loading converge from below in all three 'norms': the center displacement,
the center bending moment and the energy. On the other hand, by using what we call consistent
loading, the convergence is from above.
The same difference in convergence tendencies for consistent and lumped loading is present for the

%
HS: w=O,O. = 0

II.q"

O~ :01 = 0

H,'

Fig. 4. Uniform loading on a simply supported square plate.

A. lbrahimbegovi6, Quadrilateralfinite elements

204
Table 1
Uniform loading on a thin square plate

PQ2

Element
Mesh / load

PQ3

Lumped

Consistent

Lumped

Center displacement
1x 1
22
4x4
88
16 x 16

31915
39712
40436
40593
40631

53172
43835
41411
40834
40692

37874
40478
40621
40640
40643

"Exact' Thick
'Exact' Thin

40644
40623

40644
40623

Center bending moment

Ix 1
3.316
2x2
4,763
4x4
4,790
8x 8
4,789
16 x 16
4.789
' Exact"

DKQ
Consistent

Lumped

Consistent

56393
44481
41590
40880
40703

37847
40456
40600
40619
40622

56366
44459
41569
40859
40682

40644
40623

40644
40623

40644
40623

40644
40623

5.527
5.153
4.877
4.810
4.794

6.031
5.010
4.839
4.801
4.792

6.994
5.342
4.923
4.822
4.797

6.031
5.010
4.839
4.801
4.792

6.994
5.342
4.923
4.822
4.797

4.793

4.793

4.793

4.793

4.793

4.793

Energy
1x 1
2x2
44
8x8
16 16

99732
182118
205026
210948
212440

276887
227711
216461
213807
213516

118356
187798
206564
211340
212539

282322
232288
217923
214195
213254

118273
187684
206441
211215
212414

282239
232174
217800
214070
213128

'Exact" Thick
'Exact' Thin

212939
212814

212939
212814

212939
212814

212939
212814

212939
212814

212939
212814

e l e m e n t PQ3 if we c o n s i d e r the e n e r g y a n d the c e n t e r d i s p l a c e m e n t . T h e c e n t e r b e n d i n g m o m e n t ,

h o w e v e r , is c o n v e r g i n g f r o m a b o v e for b o t h l o a d i n g v e c t o r s , l u m p e d a n d c o n s i s t e n t , a n d has t h e s a m e
v a l u e s as t h o s e o b t a i n e d by the d i s c r e t e K i r c h h o f f e l e m e n t . M o r e o v e r , the o v e r a l l d i f f e r e n c e o f
e l e m e n t s PQ3 a n d DKQ a p p e a r s to be insignificant, thus i n d i c a t i n g the e q u i v a l e n c e o f t h e s e t w o
e l e m e n t s in the thin p l a t e limit.
T h e results p r e s e n t e d in T a b l e 2, s h o w i n g c o n v e r g e n c e in the c e n t e r d i s p l a c e m e n t , c e n t e r b e n d i n g
m o m e n t a n d e n e r g y , i n d i c a t e t h a t b o t h PQ2 and PQ3 can be used successfully in an analysis o f t h i c k
p l a t e s . T h e d i s c r e t e K i r c h h o f f e l e m e n t , h o w e v e r , is n a t u r a l l y c o n v e r g i n g a g a i n to t h e ' t h i n p l a t e
s o l u t i o n ' , thus i n t r o d u c i n g significant e r r o r s in the c o m p u t e d q u a n t i t i e s .

4.3. Point load on a simply supported square plate

T h e test p r o b l e m o f a p o i n t l o a d in the c e n t e r o f a simply s u p p o r t e d s q u a r e p l a t e is u s e d to i l l u s t r a t e
the p e r f o r m a n c e o f the p l a t e e l e m e n t s p r e s e n t e d h e r e in the p r e s e n c e o f singularity. N a m e l y , t h e e x a c t
s o l u t i o n for the d i s p l a c e m e n t u n d e r the p o i n t l o a d , a c c o r d i n g to the R e i s s n e r - M i n d l i n p l a t e t h e o r y , is
infinite. T h e s o l u t i o n for the thin p l a t e limit is finite a n d it is u s e d for c o m p a r i s o n . W e w a n t to
d e m o n s t r a t e that for a r e a s o n a b l y fine m e s h in the thin p l a t e limit, o u r e l e m e n t s d o n o t e x h i b i t a
deteriorated performance.
T h e c o m p u t a t i o n s a r e r e p e a t e d for the s q u a r e p l a t e in t h e p r e v i o u s e x a m p l e ( E = 10.92, v = 0.3,
a = 10, t = 0.1 in Fig. 4), with a p o i n t l o a d P = 1 a p p l i e d in the c e n t e r . T h e results a r e r e p o r t e d in T a b l e
3, a l o n g with t h e results o b t a i n e d by using t h e d i s c r e t e K i r c h h o f f e l e m e n t .
In T a b l e 3, we can see that t h e d i s p l a c e m e n t singularity d o e s n o t influence the a c c u r a c y f o r a
r e a s o n a b l y fine m e s h ( f r o m a practical s t a n d p o i n t ) . This is in s h a r p c o n t r a s t to the s i n g u l a r i t y p r e s e n t in
t h e K i r c h h o f f p l a t e m o d e l for the r h o m b i c p l a t e s t u d i e d in the next e x a m p l e .

A. lbrahimbegovid, Quadrilateralfinite elements

205

Table 2
Uniform loading on a thick square plate

PQ2

Element
Mesh / load

PQ3

DKQ

Lumped

Consistent

Lumped

Consistent

Lumped

Consistent

Center displacement
1x 1
2x 2
44
8x8
16 x 16

34.566
41.902
42.545
42.684
42.717

55.825
46.025
43.521
42.924
42.777

42.526
42.675
42.731
42.730
42.729

59.044
46.678
43.701
42.970
42.789

37.847
40.456
40.600
40.619
40.622

56.366
44.459
41.569
40.859
40.682

"Exact'

42.728

42.728

42.728

42.728

42.728

42.728

Center bending moment

1 1
3.316
2x2
4.763
4x4
4.790
88
4.789
16 16
4.789

5.527
5.153
4.877
4.810
4.794

6.031
5.010
4.839
4.801
4.792

6.994
5.342
4.923
4.822
4.797

6.031
5.010
4.839
4.801
4.792

6.994
5.342
4.923
4.822
4.797

'Exact"

4.793

4.793

4.793

4.793

4.793

4.793

Energy
1 1
2x2
44
8x 8
16 16

108.020
193.429
217.166
223.302
224.849

285~174
239,023
228.601
226,161
225.564

126.643
199.104
218.703
223.694
224.947

290.609
243.594
230.062
226.549
225.662

118.273
187.684
206.441
211.215
212.414

282.239
232.174
217.800
214.070
213.128

'Exact"

225.365

225.365

225.365

225.365

225.365

225.365

Table 3
Point load on a thin square plate
Mesh / element

PQ2

PQ3

DK Q

Center displacement
1x 1
2x2
4x4
8x 8
16 x 16

1277
1152
1156
1160
1162

1515
1271
1195
1172
1165

1514
1269
1194
1170
1163

'Exact'

1160

1160

1160

T h e r e m a i n i n g e x a m p l e s c o n s i d e r the e l e m e n t b e h a v i o r w h e n the e l e m e n t c o n f i g u r a t i o n s are

d i s t o r t e d . O n l y P Q 2 is used in those e x a m p l e s , since with the c u r r e n t i m p l e m e n t a t i o n ( n o n - s t a n d a r d
n o d a l d e g r e e s of f r e e d o m ) , the PQ3 e l e m e n t b e c o m e s r a t h e r c u m b e r s o m e to use for such a case.
H o w e v e r , o n e can a s s u m e that in the analysis of thin plates, PQ3 w o u l d still be e q u i v a l e n t to the D K Q
e l e m e n t e v e n w h e n the e l e m e n t s are distorted.

4.4. Uniform loading on a rhombic plate

B a b u ~ k a a n d Scapolia [8] have p o i n t e d out the inaccuracies of the Kirchhoff plate m o d e l in the
analysis of a simply s u p p o r t e d r h o m b i c plate (Fig. 5). T h e r e a s o n s for the inaccuracies are e x p l a i n e d by
the i n f l u e n c e of the o b t u s e c o r n e r singularities a n d hard simple s u p p o r t b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s (w =
0, 0, = 0). T h e R e i s s n e r - M i n d l i n plate m o d e l with soft simple s u p p o r t b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s (w = 0),
which is used here, r e n d e r s a m u c h b e t t e r c o m p a r i s o n to the t h r e e - d i m e n s i o n a l solution.
T h e r h o m b i c plate m o d e l selected in this e x a m p l e is m a d e of l i n e a r elastic m a t e r i a l with Y o u n g ' s

206

A. lbrahimbegovi6, Quadrilateral finite elements

.q'.k'
a

Fig. 5. Uniform loading on a simply supported rhombic plate.

Table 4
Uniform load on a rhombic plate
T1

PQ2

DKQ

Center displacement
2x2
4x4
8x 8
16 x 16

0.02780
0.03918
0.03899
0.04187

0.04627
0.04271
0.03971
0.04206

0.20804
0.08303
0.05533
0.04835

'Exact'

0.04455

0.04455

0.04455

Mesh / element

modulus E = 10 x 106, Poisson's ratio v = 0.3, plate side a = 100 and plate thickness t = 1. The solution
for the center displacement under unit uniform load q = 1, obtained by Morley, is used for comparison
with numerical results. The numerical results are obtained using the plate element PQ2 and consistent
loading. They are also compared to the results obtained by using the T1 plate elements [3] and DKQ
element [10], which both use what we call lumped loading.
We observe in Table 4 that the element PQ2 gives consistently better results than the T1 element,
and that the consistent loading again is beneficial for accuracy. The accuracy of DKQ element is
significantly deteriorated.

4.5. Uniform loading on a circular plate

In order to assess the element performance in arbitrarily distorted element configurations, a circular
plate test problem (e.g. see [5]) is solved. The circular plate radius is chosen as R = 5, thickness t = 1,
and the material properties are Young's modulus E = 10.92 and Poisson ratio v = 0.3.
Unit uniformly distributed loading is applied. Both simply supported (soft supports) and clamped
boundary conditions are considered. Only a quarter of the plate is modeled first with a mesh of three
plate elements presented in Fig. 6, and subsequently with finer meshes obtained by bisection of each
path. The results obtained for both cases converge to the reference values (see Table 5).

S~,'

CB: w=O, 0,=0, 02=0

SS: w=O
CL : 0 , = 0

('t.
('t

It

Fig. 6. Uniform loading on a circular plate.

A. lbrahimbegovi6, Quadrilateralfinite elements

207

Table 5
Uniform loading on a circular plate
No. elements

Clampedsupport

Simple support

3
12
48
192

10.553
11.367
11.505
11.536

43.776
42.201
41.750
41.634

'Exact'

11.55

41.60

5. Closing remarks
We have presented two plate elements which are versatile in the analysis of both thick and thin
plates. Both elements employ higher order non-conventional displacement interpolations and assumed
shear strain field, which prevent the occurrence of locking phenomena and render quite satisfactory
element performance.
It is shown that using the higher order displacement interpolations in computing the element load
vector, an enhanced rate of convergence can be obtained with respect to commonly used lumped
loading approximation.
Despite being somewhat non-conventional, all interpolations can be presented in an explicit form
well-suitable for implementation in a computer code.
We have also demonstrated how the well-known discrete Kirchhoff plate element fits in a consistent
way within the proposed framework. Moreover, one of the presented elements, PQ3, has provided a
starting point in the development of the thick-plate counterpart to the D K Q plate element (see [22]).
In this work, we have considered linear elastic problems only. However, since all interpolations are
explicitly defined, the extension to materially nonlinear analysis turns out to be straightforward (see

[23]).
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Grant No. 21-28942.90. The
help of Mr. B. Rebora in performing the numerical computations is appreciated.

Appendix A. Shear interpolation nodal parameters

We first consider the plate element with quadratic displacement interpolation. The shear interpolation nodal parameters are determined as follows. We consider a typical node 1, with adjacent nodes J
and K, according to the indices in (3.19). The shear strain along edge IJ, y,,,, is constant and equal to

1
1
3',, = ~ (w~ - w,) - -~ ntH(oj + 0,),

(A.1)

while the shear strain along edge IK, Y,,h.' is the constant equal to
r,,K =

(w, - wK) -

n',K(0, + OK).

(A.2)

We next impose that the projection of the shear interpolation nodal parameter ~/t on the edges H and
I K be equal, respectively, to ytH and ytl~, i.e.
t',,r, =

(A.3)

208

A. lbrahimbegovid. Quadrilateral finite elements

and
t'tK'/t = T,, K ,

(A.4)

w h i c h gives us two e q u a t i o n s to solve for two u n k n o w n c o m p o n e n t s o f "/i. T h e s o l u t i o n c a n b e w r i t t e n

as

1
Yl - ttijnth. (ntKT,,j - nljY,,,.) .

(A.5)

A f t e r we s u b s t i t u t e the v a l u e s o f "y,,j a n d 3',,~ f r o m ( A . 1 ) a n d ( A . 2 ) , r e s p e c t i v e l y , in ( A . 5 ) , we r e c o v e r

t h e e x p r e s s i o n for '// g i v e n by ( 3 . 2 3 ) .
F o r t h e p l a t e e l e m e n t with c u b i c d i s p l a c e m e n t i n t e r p o l a t i o n , t h e o n l y d i f f e r e n c e is in t h e e x p r e s s i o n
for y,,j a n d T,,K" In this case, we h a v e
2
3',,, : Y ,'~j - ~ AOH,

(A.6)

w h e r e ",/,,j d e n o t e s the c o n s t a n t h e a r s t r a i n f r o m ( A . 1 ) , a n d
2
Yt,h = Y ,]h - 3 AOth '

(A.7)

w h e r e -,/,,~. d e n o t e s the c o n s t a n t s h e a r s t r a i n f r o m ( A . 2 ) . U s i n g t h e n e w v a l u e s for Y,H a n d y,,~ in ( A . 5 ) ,

we r e c o v e r ( 3 . 3 3 ) .

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