INTERNATIONALJOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, VOL.

20, 21 21-2141 (1984)

A NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRILATERAL SHELL ELEMENT

WITH VARIABLE-ORDER POLYNOMIAL A N D
RATIONAL B-SPLINE GEOMETRIES
WITH RIGID BODY MODES
CARLETON J. MOORE+
AND T. Y. YANG*

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A.

DAVID c. ANDERSON$
School ofMechunica1 Engineering and Department of Computer Sciences, Puvdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A.

SUMMARY
A 48 degrees-of-freedom(d.0.f.) quadrilateral thin elastic shell finite element using variable-order polynomial
functions, B-spline functions and rational B-spline functions to model the shell surface is developed. This
development may allow the stiffness formulation of the shell element to be linked to the geometry data bases
created by computer aided design systems. The displacement functions are that of bicubic Hermitian
polynomials. The displacement functions and d.0.f. are expressed and investigated in both the curvilinear and
Cartesian forms. The curvilinear form is simpler and can provide the proper solution for a certain class of shell
problems. For certain highly curved shells such as bellows, however, the curvilinear form fails to properly
model some rigid body modes even with either the explicit inclusion of rigid body terms or the high order
displacement functions. It is suggested in this study that such difficulty can be circumvented and the rigid body
modes can be properly included if a Cartesian form is used for displacement functions. The strain-
displacement equations are expressed in curvilinear co-ordinates. Thus, the Cartesian displacement functions
require a transformation to curvilinear displacement at each numerical integration point. Examples
include a pinched cylinder, a translational shell under central load, a uniformly loaded hypar shell, a
pressurized ovel shell, a semi-toroidal bellows and a U-shaped bellows. For the first four examples, geometric
modellings consist of polynomials of second-order (subparametric), third-order (isoparametric), and fourth
and fifth-order (both superparametric) as well as B-spline functions of fourth- and fifth-order. The geometries
of the pinched cylinder, the semi-toroidal bellows, and the U-shaped bellows were modelled exactly using
rational B-spline functions. All the results obtained are in good agreement with alternative existing solutions.

INTRODUCTION
The analysis of shells using finite elements is now an established method for structural analysis. In
spite of the fact that much development has been done with curved shell elements since the late
1960s, the use of large numbers of flat plates to model curved shells is still popular. A
comprehensive review of the developments of thin shell finite elements is given by Ashwell and
Gallagher.' Some notable examples of the developments of the quadrilateral shell elements are: the
24 d.0.f. doubly-curved quadrilateral element with two constant principal radii of curvature by
Gallagher' and a cylindrical version of the same element with the explicit addition of six rigid body
t Research Assistant.
$ Professor and Head.
6 Associate Professor.
0029-5981/84/112121-21$02.10 Received February 1983
0 1984 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Revised September 1983
2122 C. J. MOORE, T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

modes by Cantin and Clough3the 48 d.0.f. cylindrical element by Bogner, Fox and S ~ h m i tthe ; ~ 48
d.0.f. doubly curved element by Greene et a1;' the48 d.0.f. quadrilateral element with two principal
and a twist constant radii of curvature by Yang;6 the 48 d.0.f. quadrilateral shell of revolution
; ~ 28 d.0.f. quadrilateral membrane shell of revolution by Gran and Yang;8
element by F ~ n d e rthe
and a family of conforming 24-40 d.0.f. quadrilateral shells by Sander and Idelsohn.9 A
development using cubic B-spline curves with cardinal spline interpolation to form a shell surface
for finite element analysis was given by Wu and Abe1.l' An integration of the surface geometric
representation and curved shell element for finite element analysis was given by Wu."
A trend in the design of lightweight and high performance aerospace and automative structures
is to generate shell structures with varying curvatures. These curved shell structures are necessary
both for aerodynamic and structural efficiencies. Also, the advent of computer aided design
systems and numerically controlled machine tools (CAD and NC) is allowing the engineer to
design and build structures and machines with shapes which were not sufficiently practical before.
The structural engineer needs a new structural analysis tool which can work with the computer
aided design system and can analyse thin shell structures with more practical shapes that might be
generated with the design system. It thus becomes the intent of this study to develop a thin shell
finite element capable of modelling the geometry produced by a computer aided design system.
This paper presents the theoretical development and evaluation of a variable order curvilinear
finite element for modelling shells with varying curvatures. This curvilinear element can have
nonparallel curved sides. This is made practical by using a curvilinear geometry-dependent strain-
displacement relation and numerical integration. This element was initially developed with similar
curvilinear displacement functions and the same 48 d.0.f. as the doubly-curved rectangular element
with constant curvatures by Yang.6 This element can, however, model arbitrary geometry with
variable principal and twist radii of curvature. The use of the present high order curvilincar
displacement functions for a curved shell element is convenient for expressing the strain-
displacement relations and it includes the rigid body modes i m p l i ~ i t l yfor
~ , a~ certain class of shells.
Alternatively, curvilinear displacement functions may be used by including the rigid body motion
terms explicitly.3312It has been pointed however, that for relatively large and highly curved
shell elements, the former implicit formulation fails to properly include all the rigid body modes,
whereas the latter explicit formulation becomes too numerically sensitive and yields a non-
convergent solution. In this study, it is shown that exact implicit modelling of the rigid body modes
for relatively large and highly curved shell elements can be obtained by changing the displacement
functions and the d.0.f. to a Cartesian system. The curvilinear strain-displacement relation
requires a transformation of the Cartesian displacement functions to curvilinear ones. The needed
derivatives are found by applying the chain rule at each numerical integration point.
The displacement functions used to obtain the stiffness matrices are separated from the geometry
functions. Thus, the displacement and the geometry functions may be of different orders. The
curvilinear strain-displacement equations are dependent upon the displacement functions as well
as the derivatives of the geometry functions at the points chosen for numerical integration. Thus,
exact geometry functions or any surface modelling functions from a computer aided design system
can be used. The shell element was developed and tested in three variable order geometric forms,
polynomial surface patches, B-spline surface patches and rational B-spline surface patches. The
displacement shape functions used are bicubic and are defined by Hermitian polynomials.
The ability to model geometry with variable order polynomials, B-spline functions or rational B-
spline functions enables the present element to be usable for thin shell computer aided design
systems. The computer aided design systcms can use a number of different surface modelling
techniques. Two popular modelling techniques appear to be a polynomial surface patch and a
piecewise polynomial surface patch called B-spline. The ability of the rational R-spline to exactly
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2123

model conic sections has also generated interest in its application to design systems. It should be
noted that a Bezier surface is a ~ u b s e t . ' ~ , ' ~
The present stiffness formulation and geometric modelling techniques are evaluated by
analysing a series of six examples: (1) a pinched cylindrical shell; (2) a doubly-curved shell of
translation under a central normal load; ( 3 )a hyperbolic paraboloidal shell under uniform normal
pressure; (4)an oval shell subjected to internal pressure; (5) a semi-toroidal bellows under axial
load; and (6) a U-shaped bellows under axial load. These examples can be divided into two classes.
Examples 1-4 can be conveniently solved with a stiffness formulation using curvilinear
displacement functions. Examples 1 and 2 have been used in a numbcr of papers as verification test
cases for curved shell finite elements. Examples 5 and 6 can be classed as problems with a high
degree of curvature and pronounced rigid body motions, for which neither the use of higher order
displacement functions nor the explicit inclusion of the rigid body motion terms helped achieve the
convergent solutions as sufficiently large number of elements were used. This difficulty was
circumvented by properly including the rigid body modes using displacement functions and d.0.f.
in a Cartesian system.

ELEMENT GEOMETRY
The thin shell finite element is quadrilateral in shape and has four corner nodal points, as shown in
Figure 1 . The middle surface of the shell finite element is assumed to be described either by a
polynomial function, a B-spline function or a rational B-spline function of curvilinear co-
ordinates with variable orders.

Polynomial junctions of variable orders

The co-ordinates x,y and z of the middle surface of the shell finite element can be described by

~&,&2.~sIs2
12 D.0.F.S AT
EACH CORNER CRRTESIRN DISPLRCEHENTS
NODE

Figure 1. Curvilinear quadrilateral shell finite element

2124 C. J. MOORE, T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

polynomial functions of the curvilinear co-ordinates 5 and q with a total of N terms:

x= c Cx,<"'q"'
N

i= 1

where the constants mi and ni define the powers of 5 and q, respectively, for the ith term. Each
polynomial has N terms. The constants C,,, C,, and C z ,are solved based on the co-ordinates x, y
and z at N selected points located on the middle surface of the shell finite element.
For an arbitrary point at a normal distance 5 from a point at x, y and z on the middle surface, the
co-ordinates are described as
A
x[=x+(-
S

C
z<=z+(-
S
where

C = -a-x- a- -y axay
a< aq aq a5
S = ,/(A2 + B2 + C 2 )
where A/S, BIS and CIS are the direction cosines of the shell normal. A, B and C are the vector
components of a cross-product of the two vectors of the shell midplane tangents in the 5 and Q
directions.
Equations (1) and (2) give the relations which can be used to find the partial derivatives of x,y
and z with respect to 5, Q and [.

B-spline functions
The B-spline function' 3 - 1 4 is a variable-order piecewise polynomial function with continuity of
the same order. A set of blending functions are used to weigh the control points, as in the surface
defined below by equation (4). Any number of control points greater than or equal to the order of
the B-spline can be used to define a curve or surface generated with the B-spline function. For a B-
spline surface, only the corner control points will lie on the surface. It should be noted that the
order of a B-spline function, as defined in References 13 and 14, is one greater than a comparable
polynomial.
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2125

The co-ordinates x, y and z of the middle surface of the shell finite element can be described by -
B-spline functions a5
i i 1

where ii is the number of control points minus one in the <-direction; m is the number of control
points minus one in the q-direction; x i + l , j + defines the x-location of the control point ( i + 1 , j + 1);
N ( ( ) and M(q)are the B-spline blending functions for 5 and q, respectively; k and 1are the orders of
the functions, N($ and M(q), respectively.
The present element was formulated to allow a single element or a mesh of elements to be
included in a single assumed B-spline surface. The parameters of the finite element, as shown in
Figure 1, must be related to those of the B-spline surface. The t: and q parameters of the finite
element range from - 1 to + 1, while the B-spline surface parameters a and y range from 0 to
+
ii - k + 2 and 0 to 2 - 1 2. Let a be defined as a function of 5:

a=-
a, + a ,
2
+-a 2 -2a l t (5)

where a, is the a value at the beginning of the element and a, is at the end of the element.
A similar type of function is used to relate q to y. The blending function N ( l )in the finite element
is a B-spline function of a which is also a function of (.
The B-spline blending function N(5)may be defined in terms of a recursively as in References 13
and 14. The functions for y(& q), z(5, q ) and the B-spline blending function Mj,Jq)are defined in a
similar manner.
The location of a point at a C distance normal to the point at x, y and z on the middle surface is
expressed in equation (2).

Rational B-spline functions

The rational B-spline1s’16surface is a more general form of the B-spline surface. The rational
scheme is obtained by the representation of the geometry data in homogeneous co-ordinates. The
B-spline surface allows a simple implementation of the rational extension. Rational B-spline
surfaces have an important advantage over the previously described integral B-spline surfaces for
modelling geometry. By adding the homogeneous value or weight, to each control point, versatility
is gained for additional surface shapes. For example, the rational B-spline curve can model exactly
the complete set of conic sections. Thus geometry such as circles,ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas
can be modelled exactly by the rational B-spline curve or surface.
The geometric representation of a point on a rational B-spline surface from the homogeneous
co-ordinates is

x=-x w
W

zw
z=-
W

where xw, yw, zw and w are defined by a summation of control points multiplied by the B-spline
2126 C. J. MOORE, T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

blending functions, as defined in References 13 and 1 4

where fi is the number of control points minus one in the <-direction; m is the number of control
+ +
points minus one in the q-direction; xi+l , j + defines the x-location of the control point (i 1, j 1);
N(a)and M ( y )are the B-spline blending functions for a and y7 respectively; k and 1are the orders of
the blending functions N(a) and M(y), respectively; and a and y are functions of both 5 and q.
The present element is formulated to allow a single or a mesh of elements to be included in a
single defined B-spline surface. The parameters 5 and q of the finite element shown in Figure 1 must
be related to a and y of the B-spline surface. In this study, these functions of a and y are defined in
two different forms. The first form assumes that a is a linear function of 1: as in equation (5),and that
<
y is a linear function of q, while the second form assumes a and y are full fifth-order functions of both
and q. The first form is easy to define, but results in changes of arc lengths which are nonlinear
with respect to the changes in 5 and q of the finite element. This does not cause any problem with
integration of the volume or arc lengths of the finite element, but it does affect the stiffness
formulation due to the assumed curvilinear strain-displacement relations. Theoretically speaking,
as the number of elements increases the solution should converge to the correct result. As regard to
the second form, the convergence can be improved to take advantage of the rational B-splines
capability to exactly model conic sections with a minimum of finite elements. It is possible to define
a and y as full fifth-order polynomial functions of 4; and q such that the arc lengths vary
approximately linearly with 5 and q. The constants are solved by' using the previous formulation of
a and y which was linear with respect to 5 and q, but nonlinear with respect to arc length. The
distribution of arc lengths for the rational B-spline with respect to u and y are found by numerical
integration and then 4; and y are assumed to be linear with respect to arc lengths and the constants
for a and y are solved. The result is that the numerical integration path of the rational B-spline is
linearized with respect to arc length.
For an arbitrary point at a normal distance 5 from a point at x,y and z on the middle surface, the
co-ordinates are described in equation (2).

ELEMENT STRAIN ENERGY

The strain energy for an isotropic, linearly elastic, thin shell finite element can be written as U = U ,
+ U , in which the membrane contribution is given by

and the flexure portion is given by

in which D, = Eh/(l - v2) and D, = D,(h2/12) are the membrane and the flexure rigidities,
respectively. The thin shell curvilinear strain-displacement relations were derived from the three-
dimensional curvilinear strains given by Nov~zhilov:'~
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT

where

and H , and H , are also of the same form. The E terms characterize the direct and shear strains in the
middle surface; the K terms are the change of curvature and the twisting of the middle surface. In
this study, all of the above partial derivatives are obtained based on either the polynomial
functions, the B-spline functions or the rational B-spline functions selected to represent the
geometry of the shell.
To generalize the application of the present derivations, it is of interest to include the twist radius
of curvature to the strain-displacement relation, as in References 6 and 18.

DISPLACEMENT FUNCTIONS
As shown in Figure 1, the shell finite element has four corner nodes, each of which has 12 d.o.f., with
a total of 48 d.0.f. Figure 1 presents two sets of displacements for the shell finite element: (1)
curvilinear displacements and their derivatives with respect to curvilinear co-ordinates; and (2)
Cartesian displacements and their derivatives with respect to curvilinear co-ordinates. Both the
curvilinear and Cartesian displacement functions share the same interpolation functions, which
are in the form of bicubic Hermitian polynomials in curvilinear co-ordinates 4 and y.’9-21
Associated with the two sets of displacement functions, there are 48 curvilinear and 48 Cartesian
d.o.f., respectively.
The use of the present high order curvilinear displacement functions allows the element to
implicitly include the six rigid body mode^^,^ for a certain class of shells such as cylinders, spherical
caps and hypar shells, etc. Alternatively the rigid body motion terms may be added explicitly to the
curvilinear displacement functions. Difficulty arises, however, when the elements used need be
highly curved and relatively large, such as in the case of bellows studied in this paper. In such case,
even with the explicit inclusion of all the rigid body motion terms to higher order (up to fifth-order)
2128 C. J. MOORE. T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

curvilinear displacement functions, it was unable to properly include all the rigid body modes and
achieve a reasonable solution with sufficientlyfine mesh. As will be demonstrated in the subsequent
example analyses of bellows, such difficulty is circumvented by using the Cartesian displacement
functions.

CO-ORDINATE TRANSFORMATION O F DISPLACEMENT FUNCTIONS

The use of Cartesian displacement functions to allow exact modelling of the rigid body modes for
the doubly-curved shell requires a transformation of the Cartesian displacements to the curvilinear
displacements at each numerical integration point for the strain-displacement relations:

where u and v are the curvilinear membrane displacements in the and q directions, respectively,
and w is the normal displacement, while U, V and W are the three displacement components in the
global x , y and z directions, respectively. It should be noted that the transformation functions are
derivatives of the shell geometry and are also functions of 5, y and l. Thus the derivation of the
derivatives of the curvilinear displacements u, v and w require the use of the chain rule.21 For
example:

Note: For the linearized rational B-spline

dH,/dt = 0.0. The other needed derivatives auldy, avlag, avlaq, a w l a t , aw/ay, a2w/ag2, a2w/dy2
and d2w/a@y are also obtained by using the chain rule.

ELEMENT STIFFNESS FORMULATIONS

The strain-displacement relations can be expressed in matrix form as
(4 = [&I ( 4 )
(4= [BfI ( 4 )
where ( 4 ) is the nodal d.0.f. For linearly isotropic material, the elasticity matrix that relates the
three stress components to the three strain components are given as
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2129

where v = Poisson's ratio. Rewriting the strain equations (8) and (9) in a matrix form

JA

The stiffness equations can be obtained by using the principle of minimum potential energy. In this
study, work-equivalent loads are used. Applying Guassian numerical integration they become,
F a
C K I m = Dm iC 1 CBmITCDICBmI wi Wjdet CJI
= l j=1
(24)

where Wi = the Guassian weight coefficient of the ith Gauss point, [J] = Jacobian matrix and iV is
the number of Gauss points used. In the subsequent examples, IV = 5 was used.

EVALUATIVE ANALYSIS
To evaluate the present formulations, six examples for which alternative solutions are available
were chosen.
The separate assumptions of the displacement and geometry functions allow the experiment-
ation on subparametric, isoparametric and superparametric elements. Such separate assumptions
also allow the use of B-spline and rational B-spline surfaces to model the shell geometry. In
addition to modelling the geometry using polynomials, the present formulation allows for the use
of trigonometric functions which are exact for certain geometries.All of the results presented for the
first four examples (pinched cylindrical shell, shell of translation, hyperbolic paraboloidal shell and
the oval shell) can be obtained correctly with the use of rational B-spline functions and by the
proper selection of control points and weighting functions. The rational B-spline will revert to the
integral B-spline when all of the weighting functions are set equal to 1.0.Also, the rational B-spline
can model a full polynomial by forming a set of blending functions at various parametric locations
and solving for an equivalent set of control points to obtain the desired result. Due to the high
degree of curvatures, the last two examples of bellows were modelled using both the curvilinear
displacements (with and without the explicit inclusion of rigid body motion terms) and Cartesian
displacement functions. Superiority of the Cartesian displacement functions is vividly demon-
strated for these examples.

Pinched cylindrical shell

The cylinder of Reference 6 with a radius of 5 in., a length of 10 in., and a thickness of 1/16 in. was
analysed with a pair of diametrically pinched loads of 10 lb each. The modulus of elasticity was lo7
psi and Poisson's ratio was 0.3. Due to double symmetry, only an octant was modelled and five
different element meshes were used: 1 x 1,2 x 1,3 x 1,4 x 1 and 5 x 1, with the number ofelements
increasing in the circumferential direction. The geometry was modelled using second- to fifth-order
polynomials, four different types of B-spline fit and two variations of the rational B-spline, as well
as an exact trigonometric function. The results for the radial displacement under the load are given
in Tables I(a) and I(b). These results are also compared to the inextensible solution by
Timoshenko.22It is seen in Table I(a) that the fourth- and fifth-order polynomial fits (superpara-
2130 C. J. MOORE, T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

Table ](a). Radial displacement (in.) under load for pinched cylindrical shell using polynomial surface fit

Sub- Iso- Super- Super- Exact

parametric parametric parametric parametric curve
2nd-order 3rd-order 4th-order 5th-order trigonometric
Mesh surface fit surface fit surface fit surface fit function
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
1x1 0.00 1471 0.001076 0.0005303 0.0004264 0.0004386
2x1 001072 003775 0.02900 0.02855 002862
3x1 0.02252 0.04 150 0.03756 0.03749 0.03750
4x1 0.03265 0.04206 0.04060 0.04058 004058
5x1 0.038 15 0.04222 0.04 1 65 0.04 164 0.04 164
Ref. 22 0.04165

Table I(b). Radial displacement (in.) under load for the pinched cylindrical shell using B-spline surface fit

Exact
B-spline Exact curve
4th-order curve linearized Exact
forced rational rational curve
to match B-spline B-spline B-spline B-spline B-spline trigono-
3rd-order 4th-order 4th-order 5th-order 3rd-order 3rd-order metric
Mesh polynomial 4 points 5 points 5 points 3 points 3 points function
(1) (2) (3) 14) (5) (6) (71 18)

1x 1 0.001076 0.0005519 0.0007873 0.0004872 0.0002579 0.0004386 0.0004386

2x 1 0.03775 0.03226 0.02035 0.02881 0.03 183 0.02862 0.02862
3x 1 0.04150 0.03908 0.03443 0.03752 003644 003750 0.03750
4x 1 0.04206 0.04116 0.03941 0.04059 0.04010 0.04058 0.04058
5x1 0.04222 0.04186 0.04 112 004 164 0.04143 0.04 164 004 164
Ref. 22 0.04 165

Note: For columns (2)-(5), one B-spline function is used for each element; for columns (6)-(7), one rational B-spline function
is used for the entire element assembly.

metric elements) given results and convergence rates comparable to the exact trigonometric
function. It is of interest to see that the results of the third-order polynomial fit (isoparametric
elements) converge to a higher than theory value as the mesh is refined. The second-order
polynomial fit (subparametric elements) is slow in giving a converged solution. It appears that at
least a fourth-order polynomial approximation of the arc of the cylinder is needed to obtain results
comparable to that by using exact geometric modelling. In this example a single polynomial
function was used for each element. Each surface was fitted by the co-ordinates of the mapping
points. No interelement compatibility in normal slope was enforced. However, the interelement
compatibility of the normal slope for the B-spline surface fit was enforced.
Figure 2 plots bending moment versus angle for the middle cross-section of the pinched cylinder.
The angle is measured from the point of load application. Only one quadrant need be shown due to
symmetry. A comparison is made between second- to fifth-order polynomial surface fits to the
inextensible solution by Timoshenko.22The finite element mesh used for Figure 2 was 5 x 1. It can
be seen that, as the order of geometric modelling increases, the finite element approximation of
bending moments shows a more favourable comparison to Timoshenko.22 The fourth- and fifth-
order polynomial fits produced the same bending moments.
Column 2 in Table I(b) shows the results using a fourth-order B-spline surface forced to match
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2131

- TIMOSHENKO~~
2.0 1 0 SUBPARRMETRIC [2ND ORDER)
ISBPRRRMETRIC (3RD ORDER)
[I]
0 SUPERPARAMETRIC (L)TH. 5TH ORDER1

"
5 0.0
0
z
w
OD -0.5

-1 .o 0 110 o; do do do do $0 0

ANGLE IN DEGREES
Figure 2. Pinched cylinder bending moments

the surface fit with the third-order polynomial (the isoparametric case). Thus the results arc the
same as those given in column 3 of Table I(a). The B-spline control points were solved by finding
the blending functions at selected parametric locations comparable to those used in the polynomial
fit. A matrix was formed, inverted and premultiplied by the actual positional data to produce the B-
spline control points.
Column 3 in Table I(b) shows the results using a fourth-order B-spline surface with four control
points. The first and fourth points are on the actual curve. The second and third points are on two
lines tangent to the curve at the first and fourth points, respectively. The locations of these two
points are determined by forcing the midpoint of the curve at the exact position. The results are
improved, as compared to that of column 2. This may be attributed to the interelement
compatibility of slopes in geometric modelling.
Column 4 in Table I(b) shows the results using a fourth-order B-spline with five control points.
The first and the fifth points are on the actual curve. The second and fourth points are on the lines
tangent to the first and fifth points, respectively, with their locations determined by forcing the
slope at midpoint of the curve to be the same as its exact value. The third point is positioned to force
the midpoint of the curve to be at its exact location. Due to the different methods of positioning the
interior control points used in columns 3 and 4, the results are different but not pronouncedly.
Column 5 of Table I(b) shows the results using a fifth-order B-spline with five control points. The
five points are positioned in the similar manner as in column 4. The only difference is that the
second and the fourth points are positioned at the intersections between the tangents at the first
and the fifth points and the radial lines at a quarter and three-quarter of the central angle of the
element, respectively. The fifth-order B-spline fit is comparable to the fourth-order superpara-
metric element and thus the results are also comparably good.
It is ofinterest to examine the second derivative values and the third-order derivative values such
as the curvature (l/r) and the change of curvature (d( l/r)/du) for the three types of B-spline surfaces:
(a) fourth-order fit with 4 points; (b) fourth-order fit with 5 points; (c) fifth-order fit with 5 points.
Since for all three types the differences in the plots for curvature are not noticeable, only the plots of
2132 C. J. MOORE, T. Y.YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

CHRNGE riF CURVRTURE

0RIGI”RL CIRCLE AT
END OF CYLINDER

(b) (C)

Figure 3. Change of curvature (a(l/r)/@) for three types of B-spline surfaces: (a) fourth-order fit with 4 points; (b) fourth-
order fit with 5 points; (c) fifth-order fit with 5 points, each type with 5 functions in a quadrant

change of curvature are shown in Figure 3. These plots readily explain the differences in results in
columns 3,4 and 5 in Table I(b). In case (a), the plots of the change of curvature within each finite
element (one B-spline function per element) shows a single continuous curve. In case (b), such plots
with each element shows two curves with a jump. In case (c),the plots show virtually no change in
curvature along the circumference. Such plots may explain why the results in column 5 of
Table I(b) is the best, whereas the results in column 4 are not improved over those in column 3.
The advantage of the rational B-spline curve is its ability to exactly model conic section
geometry. Thus, an analysis was performed using the rational B-spline surface to exactly model the
geometry of the pinched cylindrical shell which had shown a sensitivity to geometric modelling. An
octant of the pinched cylindrical shell was modelled by a single rational B-spline field. The field
corresponded to a 90 degree arc of a circle and was modelled with only three control points plus
three weighting functions for the rational B-spline. The end points weighting values were 1.0 and
the centre point weight was $/2. The results obtained using each rational B-spline modelling are
given in column 6 of Table I(b). The results are not quite as good as those obtained using the
trigonometric functions. The reason is that the rational B-spline is nonlinear with respect to arc
length, while the stiffness formulation requires a curvilinear system. The rational B-spline
parameter was reformulated to make it linear with respect to arc length and the linearized rational
B-spline results in column 7 are seen to exactly correspond to those for the exact curve modelled by
the trigonometric functions.

Shell of translation under a central load

The second example chosen is a simply-supported shell of translation under a central, transverse
load, as given in Reference 6. A series solution of this problem was given by V l a ~ o vand ~ ~the
numerical results were given by Yang,6 together with a finite element solution. The edge conditions
were described in References 6 and 23. In this study, the finite element meshes were the same as
given in Reference 6. The results were obtained for a central transverse deflection using polynomial
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2133

W
(I)
- 1 6 x 1 6 F I N I T E DIFFERENCE2'
1
0 0.00
0 5x5 F I N I T E ELEMENT MESH
z A L)XL) F I N I T E ELEMENT MESH

z
y -.01
(I)
z
-.02
t
u
W
1 -.03
LL
W
0 POSITION IN INCHES
Figure 4. Normal deflections at centre line of clamped hyperbolic paraboloidal shell

surface fits with second-order (subparametric), third-order (isoparametric) and fourth- and fifth-
order (both superparametric), as well as three different types of B-spline surface fit and an exact
geometric function fit. The results in central transverse displacement due to different surface fits are
almost the same due to the shallowness of the shell. The deflections and stresses for this problem
were calculated for all the geometric modellings. They are all much the same as those obtained in
Reference 6 and are thus not repeated here.,,

Shallow hyperbolic paraboloidal shell under uniform load

To test the inclusion of the twist radius of curvature in the present finite element formulation, the
example of a hyperbolic paraboloidal shell studied in Reference 24 and 6 was chosen. The shell was
clamped at the four sides and subjected to a uniform normal pressure. The deflection profiles for a
centre cross-section obtained by using 4 x 4 and 5 x 5 finite element meshes are shown in Figure 4,
together with that from Reference 24. Because the two principal radius of curvature are infinite
(l/R, = 1/R,= 0) and the surface can be described by linear functions, the surface can be modelled
exactly by using first-order polynomial or second-order B-spline fit. It is seen in Figure 4 that the
present solution using the 5 x 5 mesh agrees with that of Reference 24 and that of Reference 6 using
a 5 x 5 mesh (not shown). In the formulation of Reference 6, the stiffness matrix was formulated
explicitly with R,, R , and R , , as input. In this study, however, the geometric modelling was done
separately and the co-ordinates of the shell surface at selected grid points were used as input.

Oval shell under interior pressure

The fourth example chosen is an oval shell with simply-supported edges under interior pressure,
as shown in Figure 5. This example was analysed previously in Reference 25 and 26. The oval
shape is not defined directly by co-ordinate geometry, but indirectly by the radius of curvature,
which is given by the following

with
lei< 1
where e i s a constant indicating the eccentricity or non-circularity of the oval; fl is a variable for
circumferential co-ordinate; and ro is an equivalent radius of a circle whose circumference is equal
2134 C. J. MOORE, T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

- ROMANO RND KEMPNES’

0 SUBPARAMETRIC L2ND ORDER)
ElISOPRRRMETRIC 13RD ORDER1
0 SUPERPRRRMETRIC [L)TH ORDER1
p> l2 ‘1 + SUPERPRRRMETRIC LSTH ORDER I
10.

0.

6.

Y.

2.

0.
0.0 . 1 .2 .3 .Y .5
DISTANCE FROM THE END
f X/L 1
- -
Figure 5. Normal deflection profiles along AB and CD for the oval shell obtained using polynomials of different order

to that of the oval shell. The geometry was derived from equation (26)and generated by a computer
program in Reference 27.
In this study, the oval shape as shown in Figure 5 had a height-to-width ratio of 1:l.l. The other
parameters were defined as: e = 01427; ro = 21.06in.; L= 552in.; H = 0.23 in.; modulus of elasticity

Table 11. Normal deflections (in.) of the mid-cross section of the,oval shell under internal pressure using
B-spline surface fit

B-spline
4th-order Series
Circum- forced solution
ferential to match B-spline B-spline Finite (Romano
co-ordinate 3rd-order 4th-order 4th-order difference and
P polynomial 4 points 5 points (MahZ6) Kempnerz5)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
0OOo 0.001573 0.001 581 0001579 0001564 0001581
0025 0001588 0.001596 0.001595
0050 OQO1641 000 1649 0001648
0.075 0.001723 0.00 173 1 OW1730
0100 0001842 0.001849 0.00 1847
0125 0-001979 OQO1985 0001984 0001966 0-001960
0150 0.002 136 0.002141 0902140
0175 0902289 0.002292 0.002292
0200 0.002418 0002420 0002420
0225 0002513 0.002514 0.002514
0250 0402537 0002539 0002538 0002515 0.002530
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2135

Figure 6. End view of the deflected and undeflected shape of the oval shell under internal pressure

= 10 x lo6 psi; Poisson’s ratio = 0.3; and the internal pressure is 10 psi. Due to the symmetrical
conditions, only an octant need be analysed and five elements were used. The results obtained for
the normal deflection profiles along lines and CD (defined in Figure 5) using polynomial
surface fits with second-order (subparametric), third-order (isoparametric) and fourth- and fifth-
order (superparametric), as well as the series solution of Reference 25, are shown in Figure 5. It is
seen that the present results are in good agreement with those of Reference 25, despite the order of
the polynomials used.
The results obtained for the normal deflection of the mid-cross-section of the oval shell using
three different types of B-spline surface fit and the results obtained by alternative finite differencez6
and seriesz5are given in Table 11. The methods used to control the B-spline surfaces, as defined in
columns 2,3 and 4 in Table 11, are described in the paragraph in connection with columns 2 , 3 and 4
in Table I(b). It is seen that the present results are all in good agreement with those obtained in
References 25 and 26, respectively, despite the number of control points used in the B-spline surface
fit. Since the method used in column 2 of Table I1 is identical to that of the isoparametric case in
Figure 5, the plots of deflection profile along AB
and CD for the B-spline results are not shown.
The end view of the magnified deflected shape of the oval shell is shown in Figure 6. It is seen that
the oval is closer to being a circle when subjected to internal pressure.

Semi-toroidal bellows and rigid body motions

The semi-toroidal bellows presented in Figure 7 has been previously analysed with axisym-
metric solid finite elements by Zienkiewicz and NayakZ8and with an axisymmetric shell derived
from an axisymmetric solid finite element by S ~ r a n a . Also,
~ ’ this problem was analysed using conic
axisymmetric thin shell finite elements available in ANSYS. These results are compared to several
versions of the present 48 d.0.f. shell element in Table 111. The distribution of elements in column 1
of Table I11 follows the following scheme. The semi-toroidal bellows has three geometric regions of
positive, negative and zero Gaussian curvatures. The number of elements started from 3, one in
each region. The number is increased by one at a time and rotated among the three regions.
2136 C. J. MOORE, T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

P.V
i

1TI
mi
i

i
I

W'
r!
y!
-!
m(
'?i

1- 1
*i
5.705 INCHES
-
i
i i P
E E = 3X106 LB/IN2
$= .16
THICKNESS .01( INCHES

Figure 7. Cross-section of half of a semi-toroidal bellows

Table 111. Displacements (in.) for the semi-toroidal bellows under 12001b tension axial load with exact
geometry modelled by linearized rational B-spline

Curvilinear
displacement
No. of function Zienkiewicz
elements Curvilinear plus explicit CartesiAn and Nayak2't
in a displacement rigid body displacement S~rana~~t
strip function motion terms function ANSYS 8
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
-
V U V u V U V U

3 0.02344 0.00759 1 0.08893 - 0'03981 009646 - 0.03 164

4 0.02588 0*005706 0.1087 - 0'04077 0.1013 - 0.03182
5 0.03645 0.006631 0.1295 - 0'04033 0.1177 - 0'03407
6 0.03735 0.00667 1 0.1299 - 0.04042 0.1 179 - 0.03409 0.08790 - 0'03025§
7 0.03744 0.006546 0.1313 - 0'04042 0.1198 - 0'03354
8 0.03826 0.006568 0.1339 - 0.04066 0.1226 - 0.03367
9 0.03895 0.006599 0.1342 - 0.04074 01226 - 0'03367
10 0.03906 0.006612 0.1357 - 0.04051 0.1230 - 0.03357
11 0.03950 0.006650 0.1385 - 0.04082 0.1236 - 0.03360
12 0.040 11 0-006678 0-1388 - 0-04089 0.1236 - 0.03360
13 0.04023 0.006721 0.1410 - 0.04051 0.1237 - 0.03357
14 0.04075 0006785 0,1450 - 004089 0.1239 - 0.03358
15 0.04 129 0.006810 0.1452 - 0.04094 0.1239 - 0.03358
16 004142 0.006863 0.1482 - 0'04045 0.1239 - 0.03357
17 0.04 196 00069 36 0.1531 - 0.04088 0.1240 - 0.03357 0.124 - 0.034t
18 0.04244 0.006959 0.1533 - 0,04093 0.1240 - 0'03357 0.124 - 0'034t
19 0.04256 00070 16 0.1569 - 0'04034 0.1240 - 0.03357
30 0.1223 - 0.033435
60 0.1236 - 0.033539
120 0.1239 - 0.033565
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2137

Elements in each region are of equal size. It is seen in column 2 of Table I11 that the use of the 48
d.0.f. thin shell doubly-curved finite element with curvilinear displacement functions fails to
converge to the correct answer as the number of elements is sufficiently increased.
An investigation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of each of the 48 d.0.f. elements used to
model the bellows revealed that the rigid body motions along the axial direction were not properly
modelled in the region with non-zero Gaussian curvature, despite the fact that such elements were
shown to represent the rigid body modes implicitly and properly for a class of shells, such as
cylinders, spherical caps and hypar shells, e t ~ . It~ appears
’ ~ that for the present highly curved
bellows, the elements are relative larger and more curved; thus, it becomes difficult to properly
represent all the rigid body modes. Improper rigid body motions can induce strains of significant
magnitude with respect to real straining modes, thus rendering the elements inaccurate even when
the mesh is sufficiently refined.
The technique by Cantin and Clough3 and Cantin” was then used to add the needed rigid body
motion terms explicitly to the displacement functions for this 48 d.0.f. element. The results are given
in column 3 of Table 111. Although the convergence is improved due to the improved inclusion of
rigid body modes, the results still fail to converge to the correct answers as the mesh is sufficiently
refined. This may be attributed to the interelement incompatibility induced by those added rigid
body modes. It may also be attributed to the extreme numerical sensitivity of the results due to the
rigid body motion induced by explicit inclusion of those terms to the displacement functions of the
doubly curved elements. These effects are demonstrated in Figure 8, where the percentage error in
displacement were plotted against the number of elements used to model the region of non-zero
Gaussian curvature of the bellows. In cylindrical shells, the advantageous effects of the rigid body
motions overshadow the incompatibility effect. However, the opposite holds true in shells with
non-zero Gaussian curvature, such as in the case of the bellows. These conclusions are consistent
with those in Reference 7.
The problem that remained was to properly included the rigid body motions, yet without
causing interelement incompatibility. It is found that this problem can be overcome by simply
using the Cartesian displacement functions. The Cartesian displacement functions were assumed
to be composed of bicubic Hermitian polynomials and 48 Cartesian d.0.f. without the explicit

rx
2 -30
o i + B 9 io ii i2 i3 ir 1’5
NUMBER OF DOUBLY CURVED ELEMENTS
Figure 8. Errors in displacement vs. number of elements (with curvilinear displacement functions plus explicit rigid body
modes) used to model the region of non-zero Gaussian curvature in the semi-toroidal bellows
2138 C. J. MOORE. T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

addition of rigid body motion terms. The results obtained using the Cartesian displacement
elements are given in column 4 of Table I11 and the convergence plots are given in Figure 9. It is
seen in both Table I11 and Figure 9 that, as the mesh is successively refined, the results converge
quickly to those obtained in References 28 and 29 and those obtained presently using 120 straight
axisymmetric elements available in ANSYS.
The deflection shapes for the bellows are plotted in Figure 10 for the three different versions of
the present 48 d.0.f. element based on: (a) curvilinear displacement functions; (b) curvilinear
displacement functions plus explicit rigid body motion terms; and (c) Cartesian displacement
functions. In case (a), it is seen that the lack of proper rigid body motions showed a restraining
effect. In case (b), the overshadowing effect on the interelement incompatibility due to explicit
addition of rigid body modes is apparent. A far better improved curve is seen in case fc).
To further demonstrate the capability of this Cartesian displacement element, a U-shaped
bellows was studied.

2 -30
o i i 3 4 5 8 3 Q I! ioiii2i3iqi5
NUMBER OF DOUBLY CURVED ELEMENTS

Figure 9 Errors in displacement vs. number of elements (with Cartesian displacement functions) used to model the region
of non-zero Gaussian curvature in the semi-toroidal bellows

UNDEFLECTED

CURVILINEAR DISPLACEMENT CURVILINEAR DISPLACEMEN1

FUNCTION FUNCTION
PLUS R I G I D BODY MODES

CARTESIAN OISPLRCEMENT
FUNCTION

Figure 10. A comparison of deflected shapes for the semi-toroidal bellows using different versions of the 48 d.0.f. elements
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2139

U-shaped bellows
A U-shaped bellows subjected to axial tension and its deflected shape (dashed)are both shown in
Figure 11. The geometry of the shell was modelled using a linearized rational B-spline function and
the Cartesian displacement functions were used for the element stiffness formulation. The results
for displacements V,, Uz and U3 are given in Table IV along with the axial bending moments at the
same locations for three different meshes. An alternative asymptotic solution3' is also given for
comparison. To provide an additional set of comparative results, 120 axisymmetric straight
elements available in ANSYS were used also to analyse the U-shaped bellows. The agreements are
seen to be good in Table IV.

I I
i I

I
i
i
i
i
i
I

q-
- 1.21 INCHES
13.711 'INCHES --
c
E = 3OX1O6 LB/IN*
$ = .3
THICKNESS -05 INCHES

Figure 11. A U-shaped bellows subjected to axial tension and its deflected shape (dashed)

Table IV. Displacement and bending moments for the U-shaped bellows under 1200 Ib tension axial load

No. of elements Displacements Bending moments

in a strip (in.) (in.-lb/in.)
-
02 u3 MI M2 M3
3 004839 0.04094 0.007234 - 8.4485 - 6'9205 6.6641
6 0.05636 0.04714 0.008946 - 10.4646 - 8.6953 8.3085
18 005684 004745 OGO9107 - 105893 - 8.8073 8.4448
120 (ANSYS) 0.05683 0.04744 0.009105 - 10.5900 - 8.4872 8.5818
Laupa and Wei13' 005754 004804 0.009203 - 105629 - 8.9662 8.5779
2140 C. J. MOORE, T. Y. YANG AND D. C. ANDERSON

CONCLUSING REMARKS
A 48 d.0.f. quadrilateral thin shell finite element using a variable-order polynomial surface, a B-
spline surface or a rational B-spline surface to model the geometry has been developed.
In this formulation, the displacement functions used to obtain the stiffness matrices are
independent of the geometric functions used to model the shell surface. Thus, the displacement and
the geometric functions can be of differentorders or even different forms, allowing the shell surface
to be modelled by using variable order polynomials, B-spline functions of different orders, rational
B-spline functions of different orders, or exact geometric functions, etc. This formulation thus
provides the advantage that the thin shell finite element stiffness formulations may be directly
linked to the geometric data bases generated by computer aided design systems.
From the results given for the pinched cylinder example in Table I(a) and I(b) and the
explanation of the importance of the third derivatives as shown in Figure 2, it is essential to
conclude that correct geometric modelling is important in the formulation of shell finite elements.
The words ‘correct geometric modelling’ mean that not only the co-ordinates of the shell surface
have to be correct, but also their first, second and third derivatives with respect to the surface co-
ordinates.
It was found in this study that the curvilinear displacement function form of the 48 d.0.f. element
can provide a proper solution for a certain class of shell problems such as cylinders, spherical caps,
hypars and oval shells. For certain highly curved shells such as bellows, however, the curvilinear
form fails to model some rigid body modes properly with either the explicit inclusion of the rigid
body motion terms or the high order displacement functions. It was found in this study that this
difficulty can be circumvented and the rigid body modes can be properly included if a Cartesian
form was used for displacement functions. The use of the Cartesian displacement functions
modelled with bicubic Hermitian polynomials with 48 Cartesian d.0.f. allow exact implicit
inclusion of rigid body modes without causing interelement incompatibility.
This study also showed that the linearized rational B-spline function can be a versatile tool for
geometric modelling in finite element analysis. It has the ability to model exactly classic geometry
such as circles, ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas, along with many higher order curves with a
minimum of geometric definition data.
It is felt that the development of geometric modelling technique in the formulation of shell finite
elements is a necessary first step for the study of the problem of shells with geometrical
imperfections.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work was supported in part by Control Data Corporation, Grant 81P04.

REFERENCES
1. D. G. Ashwell and R. H. Gallagher, Ed. Finite Elements for Thin Shells and Curved Members, Wiley, New York, 1976.
2. R. H. Gallagher, ‘The development and evaluation of matrix methods for thin shell structural analysis’, Report No.
8500-90201 I , Bell Aerosystems, Buffalo, New York (June 1966).
3. G. Cantin and R. W. Clough, ‘A curved cylindrical-shell finite element’, A.I.A.A. J., 6 (6), 1057-1062 (1968).
4. F. K. Bogner, R. L. Fox and L. A. Schmit, Jr., ‘A curved cylindrical-shell finite element’, A.I.A.A. J., 5 (4), 745-750
(1967).
5. B. E. Greene, R. E. Jones, R. W. McLaw and D. R. Strome, ‘Dynamic analysis of shells using doubly-curved finite
elements’, Proc. 2nd Con$ on Matrix Methods in Structural Mechanics, Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory, TR-68-
150, Dayton, Ohio, Dec. 1969, pp. 185-212.
6. T. Y. Yang, ‘High order rectangular shallow shell finite element’, J . Mech. Div., ASCE, 99 (EMI), Proc. Paper 9519,
(Feb. 1973), pp. 157-181.
 NEW 48 D.O.F. QUADRATIC SHELL ELEMENT 2141

7. G. A. Fonder, ‘Studies in doubly curved elements for shells of revolution’, in Finite Elementsfor Thin Shells and Curved
Members, (D. G. Ashwell and R. H. Gallagher, Eds) Wiley, New York, 1976, pp. 113-129.
8. C . S. Gran and T. Y. Yang, ‘Doubly curved membrane shell finite element’, J . Eng. Mech. Diu.. ASCE, 105 (EM4), Proc.
Paper 14741 (August 1979), pp. 567-584.
9. G. Sander and S. Idelsohn, ‘A family of conforming finite elementsfor deep shell analysis’, Int. J . numer. methods eng., 18,
363-380 (1982).
10. S. -C. Wu and J. F. Abel, ‘Representatim and discretization ofarbitrary surfaces for finite element shell analysis’,Int. J .
numer. methods eng., 14, 813-836 (1979).
11. S. -C. Wu, ‘An integrated system for finite element analysis-surface representation and curved shell element’, Ph.D.
dissert., Cornell Univ. (1980).
12. G. Cantin, ‘Rigid body motions in curved finite elements’, A.I.A.A. J., 8 (7), 1252-1255 (1970).
13. J. A. Adams and D. F. Rogers, Mathematical Elementsfor Computer Graphics, McGraw-Hill, 1976.
14. W. M. Newman and R. F. Sproull, Principles of Interactiue Computer Graphics, McGraw-Hill, 1979.
15. K. J. Versprille, ‘Computer-aided design applications of the rational B-spline approximation form’, P h B . thesis,
Syracuse Univ. (Nov. 1974).
16. I. D. Faux and M. J. Pratt, Computational Geometryfor Design and Manufacture, Ellis Horwood, Chichester, UK, 1979.
17. V. V. Novozhilov, Theory ofElasticity (translated from Russian by J. K. Laster) Pergamon, New York, 1961.
18. E. Reissner, ‘On some problems in shell theory’, in Structural Mechanics, Proc. First Symp. on Naval Structural
Mechanics (Eds. Goodier and Hoff), Stanford University, 1958, Pergamon, New York, 1960.
19. F. K. Bogner, R. L. Fox and L. A. Schmit, ‘The generation of interelement-compatible stiffness and mass matrices by
the use of interpolation formulas’, Proc. on Matrix Methods in Structural Mechanics, Air Force Flight Dynamics Lab.,
TR-66-80, Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 1966, pp. 397-444.
20. J. A. Horvath, Jr., ‘A third-order curvilinear finite element utilizing displacement derivative degrees of freedom and
partitioning’, Ph.D. thesis, Purdue Univ. (1976).
21. C. J. Moore, ‘A new 48 D.O.F. quadrilateral shall element with variable-order polynomial and rational B-spline
geometries with rigid body modes and geometric nonlinear analysis capability’, Ph.D. thesis, Purdue Univ. (Dec. 1983).
22. S. Timoshenko and S. Woinowsky-Drieger, Theory ofplates and Shells, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959, pp. 501-506.
23. V. Z . Vlasov, ‘General theory of shells and its application in engineering’, NASA T T F-99, National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, 1964, pp. 495-514.
24. J. J. Connor and C. Brebbia, ‘Stiffness matrix for shallow rectangular shell element’, J . Eng. Mech. Diu., ASCE, 93
(EM5), Proc. Paper 5528, (Oct. 1967), pp. 43-65.
25. F. Romano and J. Kempner, ‘Stresses in short noncircular cylindrical shells under lateral pressure’, J . Appl. Mech., 29
(4), 669-674 (Dec. 1962).
26. G. B. J. Mah, ‘Numerical analysis of noncircular cylindrical shells’, J . Eng. Mech. Diu., ASCE, 219-237 (June 1967).
27. E. Golub and A. Allentuch, ‘Design program for short ring-reinforced oval cylinder’, J . Computers Sfruct., I,
435-464 (1971).
28. 0.C. Zienkiewicz and G. C. Nayak, ‘A general approach to problems of plasticity and large deflection using
isoparametric elements’, Proc. ConJ:on Matrix Methods in Structural Mechanics, Wright-Patterson A. F. Base, Ohio,
1971.
29. K. S. Surana, ‘Geometrically nonlinear formulation for the axisymmetric shell elements’, Int. J . numer. methods eng. 18,
477-502 (1982).
30. A. Laupa and N. A. Weil, ‘Analysis of U-shaped expansion joints’, J . Appl. Mech., ASME, 115-123 (March 1962).