Technical Reference
1.6.1 Plate and Shell Element
The Plate/Shell finite element is based on the hybrid element formulation. The element can be 3-noded
(triangular) or 4-noded (quadrilateral). If all the four nodes of a quadrilateral element do not lie on one
plane, it is advisable to model them as triangular elements. The thickness of the element may be
different from one node to another.
"Surface structures" such as walls, slabs, plates and shells may be modeled using finite elements. For
convenience in generation of a finer mesh of plate/shell elements within a large area, a MESH
GENERATION facility is available. The facility is described in detail in Section 5.14.
The user may also use the element for PLANE STRESS action only. The ELEMENT PLANE STRESS
command should be used for this purpose.
Geometry Modeling Considerations
The following geometry related modeling rules should be remembered while using the plate/shell
element.
1) The program automatically generates a fictitious fifth node "O" (center node - see Fig. 1.8) at the
element center.
2) While assigning nodes to an element in the input data, it is essential that the nodes be specified either
clockwise or counter clockwise (Fig. 1.9). For better efficiency, similar elements should be numbered
sequentially.
3) Element aspect ratio should not be excessive. They should be on the order of 1:1, and preferably less
than 4:1.
4) Individual elements should not be distorted. Angles between two adjacent element sides should not be
much larger than 90 and never larger than 180.
Load Specification for Plate Elements
Following load specifications are available:
1) J oint loads at element nodes in global directions.
2) Concentrated loads at any user specified point within the element in global or local directions.
3) Uniform pressure on element surface in global or local directions
4) Partial uniform pressure on user specified portion of element surface in global or local directions
5) Linearly varying pressure on element surface in local directions.
6) Temperature load due to uniform increase or decrease of temperature.
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7) Temperature load due to difference in temperature between top and bottom surfaces of the element.
Figure 1.13
Theoretical Basis
The STAAD plate finite element is based on hybrid finite element formulations. A complete quadratic
stress distribution is assumed. For plane stress action, the assumed stress distribution is as follows.
Figure 1.14
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Complete quadratic assumed stress distribution:
The following quadratic stress distribution is assumed for plate bending action:
Figure 1.15
Complete quadratic assumed stress distribution:
The distinguishing features of this finite element are:
1) Displacement compatibility between the plane stress component of one element and the plate bending
component of an adjacent element which is at an angle to the first (see Fig. below) is achieved by the
elements. This compatibility requirement is usually ignored in most flat shell/plate elements.
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Figure 1.16
2) The out of plane rotational stiffness from the plane stress portion of each element is usefully
incorporated and not treated as a dummy as is usually done in most commonly available commercial
software.
3) Despite the incorporation of the rotational stiffness mentioned previously, the elements satisfy the
patch test absolutely.
4) These elements are available as triangles and quadrilaterals, with corner nodes only, with each node
having six degrees of freedom.
5) These elements are the simplest forms of flat shell/plate elements possible with corner nodes only and
six degrees of freedom per node. Yet solutions to sample problems converge rapidly to accurate answers
even with a large mesh size.
6) These elements may be connected to plane/space frame members with full displacement
compatibility. No additional restraints/releases are required.
7) Out of plane shear strain energy is incorporated in the formulation of the plate bending component.
As a result, the elements respond to Poisson boundary conditions which are considered to be more
accurate than the customary Kirchoff boundary conditions
8) The plate bending portion can handle thick and thin plates, thus extending the usefulness of the plate
elements into a multiplicity of problems. In addition, the thickness of the plate is taken into
consideration in calculating the out of plane shear.
9) The plane stress triangle behaves almost on par with the well known linear stress triangle. The
triangles of most similar flat shell elements incorporate the constant stress triangle which has very slow
rates of convergence. Thus the triangular shell element is very useful in problems with double curvature
where the quadrilateral element may not be suitable.
10) Stress retrieval at nodes and at any point within the element.
Plate Element Local Coordinate System
The orientation of local coordinates is determined as follows:
1) The vector pointing from I to J is defined to be parallel to the local x- axis.
2) The cross-product of vectors IJ and IK defines a vector parallel to the local z-axis, i.e., z =IJ x IK.
3) The cross-product of vectors z and x defines a vector parallel to the local y- axis, i.e., y =z x x.
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4) The origin of the axes is at the center (average) of the 4 joint locations (3 joint locations for a
triangle).
Fig. 1.17
Output of Plate Element Stresses and Moments
For the sign convention of output stress and moments, please see Fig. 1.13.
ELEMENT stress and moment output is available at the following locations:
A. Center point of the element.
B. All corner nodes of the element.
C. At any user specified point within the element.
Following are the items included in the ELEMENT STRESS output.
SQX, SQY Shear stresses (Force/ unit len./ thk.)
SX, SY, SXY Membrane stresses (Force/unit len./ thk)
MX, MY, MXY Moments per unit width (Force x Length/length)
(For Mx, the unit width is a unit distance parallel to the local Y axis.
For My, the unit width is a unit distance parallel to the local X axis. Mx
and My cause bending, while Mxy causes the element to twist out-of-
plane.)
SMAX, SMIN Principal stresses in the plane of the element (Force/unit area). The 3rd
principal stress
is 0.0.
TMAX Maximum 2D shear stress in the plane of the element (Force/unit area)
ANGLE Orientation of the 2D principal plane (Degrees)
VONT, VONB 3D Von Mises stress, where
TRESCAT, TRESCAB Tresca stress, where
TRESCA =MAX[ |(Smax-Smin)| , |(Smax)| , |(Smin)| ]
Notes:
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1. All element stress output is in the local coordinate system. The direction and sense of the element
stresses are explained in Fig. 1.13.
2. To obtain element stresses at a specified point within the element, the user must provide the
location (local X, local Y) in the coordinate system for the element. The origin of the local
coordinate system coincides with the center of the element.
3. The 2 nonzero Principal stresses at the surface (SMAX & SMIN), the maximum 2D shear stress
(TMAX), the 2D orientation of the principal plane (ANGLE), the 3D Von Mises stress (VONT &
VONB), and the 3D Tresca stress (TRESCAT & TRESCAB) are also printed for the top and
bottom surfaces of the elements. The top and the bottom surfaces are determined on the basis of
the direction of the local z-axis.
4. The third principal stress is assumed to be zero at the surfaces for use in Von Mises and Tresca
stress calculations. However, the TMAX and ANGLE are based only on the 2D inplane stresses
(SMAX & SMIN) at the surface. The 3D maximum shear stress at the surface is not calculated but
would be equal to the 3D Tresca stress divided by 2.0.
Sign Convention of Plate Element Stresses and Moments
Figure 1.18
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Figure 1.19
Figure 1.20
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Figure 1.21
Figure 1.22
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Figure 1.23
Figure 1.24
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Figure 1.25
Please note the following few restrictions in using the finite element portion of STAAD:
1) Both frame members and finite elements can be used together in a STAAD analysis. The ELEMENT
INCIDENCES command must directly follow the MEMBER INCIDENCES input.
2) The selfweight of the finite elements is converted to joint loads at the connected nodes and is not used
as an element pressure load.
3) Element stresses are printed at the centroid and joints, but not along any edge.
4) In addition to the stresses shown in Fig 1.18, the Von Mises stresses at the top and bottom surface of
the element are also printed.
Plate Element Numbering
During the generation of element stiffness matrix, the program verifies whether the element is same as
the previous one or not. If it is same, repetitive calculations are not performed. The sequence in which
the element stiffness matrix is generated is the same as the sequence in which elements are input in
element incidences.
Therefore, to save some computing time, similar elements should be numbered sequentially. Fig. 1.14
shows examples of efficient and non-efficient element numbering.
However the user has to decide between adopting a numbering system which reduces the computation
time versus a numbering system which increases the ease of defining the structure geometry.
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Figure 1.26
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