24 A direct physical approach to problems in elasticity: plane stress

of the shape functions it is convenient to use a local cartesian system x

_
, y
_ defined by
x
_ = x x1
y
_ = y y1
We now need four functions for each displacement component in order to uniquely define
the shape functions. In addition these functions must have linear behaviour along each
edge of the element to ensure interelement continuity. A suitable choice is given by
u = 1 + x
_
2 + y
_
3 + x
_
y
_
4
v = 5 + x
_
6 + y
_
7 + x
_
y
_
8
(2.9)
The coefficients a may be obtained by expressing (2.9) at each node, giving for u
u
1 = 1
u
2 = 1 + a 2
u
3 = 1 + a 2 + b 3 + ab 4
u
4 = 1 + b 3
(2.10)
We can again easily solve for a in terms of the nodal displacements to obtain finally
u = 1
ab
[(a x
_
)(b y
_
)u1 + x
_
(b y
_
)u2 + x
_
y
_ u3 + (a x
_
) y
_ u4] (2.11)
An identical expression is obtained for v by replacing ua by va.
From (2.11) we obtain the shape functions
N1 = (a x
_
)(b y
_
)/(ab)
N2 = x
_
(b y
_
)/(ab)
N3 = x
_
y
_
/(ab)
N4 = (a x
_
) y
_
/(ab)
(2.12)
2.2.2 Strains
With displacements known at all points within the element the strains at any point can
be determined. These will always result in a relationship that can be written in matrix
notation as
= Su (2.13)
where S is a suitable linear differential operator. Using Eq. (2.1), the above equation can
be approximated by
= Bue (2.14)
with
B = SN (2.15)
It is known that strain is a second rank tensor by its transformation properties; however, in this book we
will normally represent quantities using matrix (Voigt) notation. The interested reader is encouraged to consult
Appendix B for the relations between tensor forms and the matrix quantities.