European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

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European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ejmsol

A comparative formulation of T3γs, DST, DKMT and MITC3+ triangular T

plate elements with new numerical results based on s-norm tests
Irwan Katilia,*, Imam Jauhari Maknuna, Jean-Louis Batozb, Andi Makarim Katilia
a
Universitas Indonesia, Civil Engineering Department, Depok 16424, Indonesia
b
Sorbonne Universities, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, CNRS FRE 2012 Roberval, 60205 Compiègne, France

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The paper deals with plate bending triangular elements with shear effect included, having only three degrees of
Plate bending elements freedom at each corner node. In that category, we select four elements due to their appreciation in the academic
T3γs world and performances for practical applications using industrial software. Those four elements are T3γs (1982)
DST (equivalent to MITC3 (2004)), DST (1989), DKMT (1993), and MITC3+ (2014). The present paper focuses on
DKMT
the detailed formulation of those elements using the same notation and with emphasis on their theoretical
MITC3+
s-norm
difference. In particular, the paper shows that for very thick plates DKMT, and MITC3 are equivalent. The main
other contribution deals with a detailed analysis of the numerical results for classical tests or dealing with
convergence performance evaluation using s-norm tests for the whole range of extremely thick to thin plates. The
best elements emerging from the present study are DKMT and MITC3+ with a slight advantage to the first due to
its simplicity in formulation and performance in all tests.

1. Introduction
The present paper deals with triangular elements, in great spirit
with a recently published paper (Katili et al., 2018a) on quadrilateral
twelve degrees of freedom (dof) elements DKQ, DSQ, DKMQ, MITC4.
The introduction in (Katili et al., 2018a) can be mostly shared for the
present paper and therefore, it is proposed to focus here on triangular
elements, again considering 3 nodes, 3 dof (w, βx, βy) per node only,
with transverse shear (TS) effects included and proposed for a wide
range of thick to thin plates. All elements in the next section are based
on the classical first-order Reissner-Mindlin (RM) plate theory
(Reissner, 1945; Mindlin, 1951; Batoz and Dhatt, 1990).
One of the most famous finite element for plate bending analysis of
thin plates is the DKT element much recognized by the engineering
community after the publication (Batoz et al., 1980). That element
starts with the Reissner-Mindlin theory and considers incomplete
quadratic C0 approximations of the rotations. Then, zero transverse
shear edge constraints are imposed on the three sides so that by ne-
glecting the shear energy, the DKT element is a very efficient one for the
analysis of thin plates.
To our knowledge, the first RM element with a great reduction of
shear locking (but not completely avoiding it in extreme thin situations)
is an element based on the Assumed Natural Strain (ANS) approach,
also called shear projection method proposed in 1982 by Hughes and
Taylor (1982). That element here called T3γs (Katili, 2004) is based on
linear approximation of w, βx, βy. But an assumed independent TS field
is considered inside the element. Those shear strains are linear with
assumed constant values of the natural (or covariant) components along
each of the three sides. Collocation is considered at mid-side nodes to
match the assumed strains and the kinematic strains resulting from the
linear displacement and rotation components on each side. If exact
integration is used (with 3 Hammer points in numerical integration)
that element has a proper rank but shear locking is encountered for very
thin plates. If the shear energy is assumed constant (one integration
point) the shear locking is much reduced for a large value of slenderness
ratio but for one element one spurious mode exists.
Based on the DKT element Batoz and Lardeur developed the Discrete
Shear Triangular (DST) (Batoz and Lardeur, 1989; Lardeur and Batoz,
1989) element with also 3 dof per node. Transverse shear effects are
considered using equilibrium equations at the element level to define
assumed constant shear strains on the element. Then constraints on
element edges are considered (in the spirit of DKT) to maintain a nine
dof element. DST shows good performances in isotropic and composite
thin to thick plates but the formulation of transverse shear contribution
is slightly complicated. Also, when applied to very thick plates DST
doesn't fully satisfies the constant strain patch tests.
To satisfy the patch test of constant shear strains in the case of thick
plates, Batoz and Katili (1992) consider a new rotation field with Co

*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: irwan.katili@eng.ui.ac.id (I. Katili).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euromechsol.2019.103826
Received 11 December 2018; Received in revised form 8 July 2019; Accepted 19 July 2019
Available online 26 July 2019
0997-7538/ © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

linear approximation of the rotations enriched with higher order characteristics of the elements. Concluding remarks are proposed in
quadratic incompatible modes, but with orthogonal energy properties section 9.
to satisfy the constant strain patch-tests. Although theoretically
sounded, the DST-BK element was difficult to generalize and limited in
its general use for plates and shell analysis. 2. General notations of the Reissner-Mindlin plate theory and
Sharing several formulation aspects with DKT, T3γs and DST, Katili element formulation
(1993a) proposed the Discrete Kirchhoff-Mindlin Triangular (DKMT)
element considering incomplete quadratic approximation for the rota- x, y, z: Cartesian coordinates system.
tions and a linear assumed shear strain field in term of mid-sides tan- w: Vertical displacement in z direction.
gential components as done in T3γs. Then, constraints on mid-sides = x y : Rotations in the z-x and z-y planes respectively.
(using local equilibrium equations on edges) are imposed to eliminate = x y xy : Curvatures.
the quadratic rotation parameters as is done for DKMQ (Katili, 1993b). = x y : Transverse shear (TS) strains.
Having good convergence properties and fully satisfying patch tests for M = Mx My Mxy : Bending moments per unit length.
constant curvature strain fields, DKMT and DKMQ (Katili et al., 2015a, T = Tx Ty : Transverse shear (TS) forces per unit length
2015b, 2017, 2018b, 2018c; Mahjudin et al., 2016; Irpanni et al., 2017; E: Young modulus
Wong et al., 2017), valid for thin to thick plates, have been im- h: Thickness of the plate
plemented in various software. DKMT elements are free of shear locking : Poisson ratio
by element construction since they will reduce to DKT in thin plates. : Shear correction factor (5/6 for an isotropic homogeneous plate)
The difference lies in the representation of the TS energy. G: Shear modulus (G = E/2(1+ υ))
It appears in 2004 that the element stiffness matrix of T3γs (Hughes fz : Vertical distributed load in z direction.
and Taylor, 1982; Katili, 2004) was obtained in a slightly different [Hb]: Matrix for moments-curvatures relations.
technical manner under the name MITC3 (Lee and Bathe, 2004), (see Db : Bending plate rigidity (Db = Eh3/12(1-υ2))
(Katili et al., 2019) for demonstration of equivalence between T3γs and [Hs]: Matrix for shear forces-shear strain relations.
MITC3). Extensive evaluation of MITC3 has been done, mainly by Lee Ds : Shear plate rigidity (Ds = κGh)
and Bathe (and their collaborators) after 2004 (Lee et al., 2007, 2012; : Derivative of f
Chapelle and Bathe, 2011). In those references, the authors recognize dA = dx × dy : Element Area.
the unsatisfactory behavior of MITC3 regarding shear locking and
convergence rate performances. From 2014 to 2017, they formulate a For 3 nodes triangular elements (see Fig. 1):
better performing element called MITC3+ with an exhaustive evalua- 3 3
tion campaign based on classical benchmark and s-norm tests. The main x= Ni x i ; y= Ni yi
characteristic of MITC3+ is the addition of a cubic bubble function to i=1 i=1
enhance the approximation of the rotation field inside the element. Also
a new assumed natural (or covariant) shear strain field is proposed in with N1 = 1 ; N2 = ; N3 = ; 0 1 ; 0 1
terms of the values at six tying points (inside the element) and in terms
of a small adjusted numerical parameter d to control the shear energy For more details on the first order Reissner-Mindlin theory see
contribution at the element level. As in MITC3 the natural shear com- (Katili et al., 2018a; Reissner, 1945; Mindlin, 1951; Batoz and Dhatt,
ponent ert is linear in s and est is linear in r (using the notations in papers 1990).
(Lee et al., 2014; Lee et al., 2015; Ko et al., 2017)). Then 7 or 3 Hammer
integration points can be used without leading to spurious modes. The
two central rotations associated with the bubble function are eliminated 3. Formulation of the T3γs element
by static condensation at the element level to obtain a 3 nodes and 3 dof
per node element. As said above, the element is much better performing A 3-nodes triangular element (Fig. 1) was proposed in 1982 by
than MITC3 for a very low value of d (i.e. d = 10−4). Reference (Jeon Hughes and Taylor (1982) based on the shear projection method (also
et al., 2015) deals with linear and non linear analysis of shells using called the Assumed Natural Strain (ANS) method). In the present paper,
MITC3+. the element is called T3γs, with 3 degrees of freedom (dof) wi , xi and yi
The above introduction is far from exhaustive regarding publica- at the corner nodes.
tions dealing with triangular plates elements. Readers will find addi- The formulation starts with a classical linear isoparametric Co re-
tional information in papers by Carpenter et al. (1985), Stolarski and presentation of both the coordinates x and y, and the independent
Chiang (1989), Ayad et al. (1998), Bletzinger et al. (2000), Sandro displacement w and rotation fields x and y as follows:
Brasile (2008), Rezaiee-Pajand et al. (2018a, 2018b), Jun et al. (2018).
An exhaustive review of Reissner-Mindlin plate finite elements is pro-
posed in Cen and Shang (2015), based on 197 references.
The paper is organized as follows. A unique notation system is
considered and presented in section 2. It should facilitate the under-
standing of the differences between the element strain operators and
stiffness matrices. Then in section 3, the paper presents the formulation
of the elements T3γs (equivalent to MITC3) then DST is presented in
section 4 followed by DKMT in section 5 to finish with MITC3+ in
section 6. In the above sections, we focus on the derivation of the strain
operators [Bb] (bending) and [Bs] (shear) and on the differences be-
tween the elements T3γs, MITC3 and MITC3+, DKT, DST and DKMT
and also between DKMT and T3γs for very thick plates. In section 7, the
stiffness matrices of the four elements T3γs (=MITC3), DST, DKMT, and
MITC3+ are derived and for the last one, a static condensation is ne-
cessary to obtain a 9 dof element. Section 8 is devoted to numerical
results concentrated on s-norm tests to compare the convergence Fig. 1. T3γs element with 3 nodes and 3 dof per node.

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

3 3 3
The shear strains sk and k are assumed constant along the element
w= Ni wi ; x = Ni xi ; y = Ni yi sides (Fig. 2) and expressed in terms of the shear strains defined at each
i=1 i=1 i=1 (1)
node i (Katili, 2004).
C0 continuity is guaranteed. Ni are linear shape functions defined in From Fig. 2 we obtained the natural shear strains:
Section 2:
The relationship between curvature strains and nodal variables is At node 1:
defined as follow: 4
= 1 0 1

6 0 1 1
x x ,x
{ }= y = y ,y = [Bb ]{un}
1 1 0 4
x ,y + y ,x (2) =
xy
1
0 1 6 (13)
{un }T = un = w1 x1 y1 w2 x2 y2 w3 x3 y3 (3)
At node 2:
1 1
and: 5
= 2 2
2

0 Ni ,x 0 4 1 0 2

[Bb] = … 0 0 Ni ,y … i = 1,2,3
0 Ni ,y Ni ,x (4) 2 0 1 5
=
2 1 (14)
with: Ni,x = j11 Ni, + j12 Ni, ; Ni, y = j21 Ni, + j22 Ni, (5) 2 4

j11, j12, j21, j22 are the components of [j], inverse of the Jacobian At node 3:
matrix [J]. 0 1
6 3
= 1 1
J11 J12 x, y, x21 y21 5 2 2 3
[J ] = = x, y, = x13 y13
J21 J22 (6)
x ji = x j x i ; yji = yj yi (7) = 1 2
3 6

3 1 0 5 (15)
1
j11 j12
[j] = [J ] = Substituting (13–15) into (12), we obtain:
j21 j22
4

1 y13 y21 = [N ] 5
[j] =
2A x13 x21 (8) 6 (16)

det [J ] = 2A = x13 y21 x21 y13 (9) with:

A is the area of the triangular element. Substituting (8) into (4–5), N1 + N2 2 N3 N3
[N ] =
we obtain: N2 2 N2 N1 + N3
0 y32 0 0 y13 0 0 y21 0
1
[Bb] = 0 0 x32 0 0 x13 0 0 x21 (1 ) 2
2A 0 x32 y32 0 x13 y13 0 x21 y21 [N ] =
(10) 2 (1 ) (17)
Independent assumed shear strains x , y are expressed in terms of It can be seen from equations (16) and (17) that the natural shear
natural (covariant) shear strain components , as follows: strains is constant in the ξ direction and linear in the η direction. On
the other hand, is constant in the direction and linear in the ξ
x( , )
{ }= = [j] direction (similar to MITC4 (Katili et al., 2018a)).
y( , ) (11) On side-k, the relationship between the shear strains in natural
The natural shear strain , are approximated linearly in each coordinates and the tangential components is defined as (Fig. 2):
element in terms of the natural shear strains at corner nodes: L4 0 0
4 s4
L5
3
i 5 = [A ] s5 ; [A ] = 0 0
2
= Ni
i=1 i (12) 6 s6 0 0 L6 (18)

Fig. 2. Constant shear strains on each side of element in tangential and natural coordinate systems.

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

= [Bs ]T 3 s {un} ; [B s ]T 3 s = [B s ][Au ]

(27)

Considering the above presentation, it is shown that the T3γs tri-

angular element based on the shear projection method proposed by
Hughes and Taylor (Hughes and Taylor, 1982; Katili, 2004) in 1982
leads to the same shear strain matrix [Bs] of the MITC3 proposed by Lee
and Bathe (2004) in 2004 using a tying points method. More details on
the equivalence between T3γ and MITC3 can be found in a recent paper
Fig. 3. Displacement w and rotation βs on each side i-j. by Katili et al. (2019).
Eq. (27) can be expressed as:
Introducing (18) into (16), we obtain:
[B s ]MITC3 = [Bs ]T 3 s = [[Bs1 ][B s2 ][Bs3 ]] (28)
= [Bs ]{ sn} ; [Bs ] = [N ][A ]
(19) 1
1
(x + x32 )
1
(y + y32 )
2 21 2 21
[B s1 ] =
Introducing (19) into (11), we obtain: 1
1
(x + x32 )
1
(y + y32 )
2 13 2 13 (29)
x
= [B s ]{ sn} ; [B s ] = [j][B s ]
y (20) 1
1
(x + x13 )
1
(y + y13 )
2 21 2 21
[B s2 ] = 1 1
with: sn = s4 s5 s6 (21) 0 x
2 13
y
2 13 (30)
The relation between the assumed shear strain sk along a side k and 1 1
the (kinematic) shear strains based displacement model s is the fol- 0 x
2 21
y
2 21
[B s3 ] =
lowing (Fig. 3): 1
1
(x + x21 )
1
(y + y21 )
2 13 2 13 (31)
Lk
1
sk = s ds ; s = w,s + s Combining (27–31) into (11), we finally obtain the TS operator [Bs]
Lk (22)
0 (2 × 9):

with: x
{ }= = [Bs ]T 3 s {un}
s s y
w= 1 wi + wj
Lk Lk
[Bs ]T 3 s = [Bs ]MITC3 = [j][Bs ]T 3 s (32)
s s
s = 1 si + sj
Lk Lk (23)
4. Formulation of the DST element
After integration, we obtain:

=
1
(wj wi ) +
1
+
1 The formulation of the DST (Discrete Shear Triangular) element was
sk si sj
Lk 2 2 proposed by Batoz and Lardeur (Batoz and Lardeur, 1989; Lardeur and
Batoz, 1989) in 1989. Details on the companion quadrilateral element
wj wi 1 DSQ have been published in (Katili et al., 2018a; Batoz and Dhatt,
= + (Ck + Sk + Ck + Sk yj )
sk
Lk 2 xi yi xj
(24) 1990). The aim of DST was to take into account TS effects starting with
the formulation of DKT (Batoz et al., 1980) but without the introduction
where Ck and Sk are the direction cosines of side i-j (Fig. 4). of additional nodal variables.
By collecting (24) on each side i-j we obtain: As in DKT, incomplete quadratic rotation fields for βx and βy are
{ sn} = [Au ]{un} (25) considered in terms of rotations at the three corners and in terms of
three temporary rotations sk (k = 4,5,6) at mid-side i-j (Fig. 5).
with: On each side i-j, the normal rotation n is a linear function of s, while
2 2 rotation s is quadratic in s (Fig. 6).
L4
C4 S4 C4 S4 0 0 0
L4
1 2 2
[Au ] = 0 0 0 L5
C5 S5 C5 S5
2 L5
2 2
C6 S6 0 0 0 C6 S6
L6 L6 (26)

Introducing (25–26) into (19), we get:

Fig. 5. Rotations at corner nodes and temporary rotation increments at mid

Fig. 4. The direction cosines of side i-j. sides.

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

Using the above equations together with the description of the ro-
tations field (35), we obtain:

x x , xx + x , yy + y, xy
{ }= = [Hs] 1 [H¯ b ]
y x , yx + y, xx + y, yy (46)
In terms of the nodal variables:

x
{ }= = [B s ]DST { sn }
Fig. 6. Rotations βn and βs on each side i-j of an element.
y (47)

with:
In a hierarchical form: [B s ]DST = [Hs] 1 [Hb ][Tj ][T ] (48)

s s Db 1 (1 )/2 0 0 0 (1 + )/2
n = 1 ni + nj [Hb ] =
Lk Lk (33) 2×6 Ds 0 0 (1 + )/2 (1 )/2 1 0 (49)

s s s s [t j ] [0]
s = 1 si + sj +4 1 sk [Tj ] =
Lk Lk Lk Lk (34) 6×6 [0] [t j ]
Based on (33–34), the rotations βx and βy can be written in an
element as: 2
y13 2
y21 2y13 y21
1
3 6 3 6 [t j] = 2
x13 2
x 21 2x13 x21
= Ni + Pk Ck ; = Ni + Pk Sk 4A2
x xi sk y yi sk y13 x13 y21 x21 y13 x21 y21 x13 (50)
i=1 k=4 i=1 k=4 (35)
Ni are the linear shape functions (2) and Pk are quadratic functions: 8C4 0 0
P4 = 4N1 N2 ; P5 = 4N2 N3 ; P6 = 4N1 N3 (36) 0 0 8C6
4C4 4C5 4C6
Ck and Sk are the direction cosines of side i-j (Fig. 4). [T ] =
6×3
8S4 0 0
The curvature strains will then be written as: 0 0 8S6
x ,x
4S4 4S5 4S6 (51)
x
{ }= y = y ,y = [Bb ]{un} + [Bb ]{ sn } For DST the matrix [B s ]DST is constant (it was not the case for DSQ
xy
x ,y + y ,x (37) (Katili et al., 2018a) due to the Jacobian transformations for a general
quadrilateral element).
Matrix [Bb ] defined in (37) for DST is the same as [Bb] in (3) for T3γs. The projection of x and y at the mid node k of each side gives:
Pk ,x Ck x
= Ck Sk = Ck Sk [B s ]{ sn}
[Bb ] = … Pk , y Sk … k = 4,5,6 sk
y (52)
Pk ,y Ck + Pk ,x Sk (38)
As for T3γs, the link between the assumed TS and the shear strains
Pk ,x = j11 Pk , + j12 Pk , ; Pk ,y = j21 Pk , + j22 Pk , (39) coming from the initial displacement and rotations field is the fol-
lowing:
un = w1 x1 y1 w2 x 2 y2 w3 x3 y3
Lk
sn = s4 s5 s6 are the temporary degrees of freedom at the 1
= ds with: = w,s +
mid-side nodes. sk
Lk s s s
(53)
0
In the DST element, the independent assumed shear strains x and y
are defined using the element equilibrium equations and the con- and:
stitutive equations (Katili et al., 2018a), (Batoz and Dhatt, 1990). s s
w= 1 wi + wj
Lk Lk
− Equilibrium equations (for distributed load fz):
Tx ,x + Ty ,y + fz = 0 (40) s s s s
s = 1 si + sj +4 1 sk
Mx ,x + Mxy ,y Tx = 0 (41) Lk Lk Lk Lk (54)

Mxy ,x + My ,y Ty = 0 (42) Considering (52–54), we obtain on each side:

wj wi 1
M = Mx My Mxy and T = Tx Ty are the bending moments and Ck Sk ([B s ]DST { sn }) = + (Ck xi + Sk yi + Ck xj + Sk yj )
Lk 2
the shear forces.
2
+
3 sk (55)
− Constitutive equations (for homogeneous plane stress):
The left-hand side (l.h.s) part of (55) results from the assumed TS
{M } = [Hb ]{ } ; {T } = [Hs ]{ } (43)
defined at each mid node considering the equilibrium and constitutive
1 0 equations of the plate. If the TS energy is neglected then sk is zero and
Eh3
[Hb] = Db 1 0 ; Db = the right-hand side (r.h.s) part of (55) is the same as for DKT (involving
12(1 2)
0 0 (1 )/2 (44) sk ).
We see that both parts of (55) imply the three components sk
1 0 E (k = 4,5,6). Considering (55) on the three sides of the element, we
[Hs] = Ds ; Ds = Gh ; G =
0 1 2(1 + ) (45) define the following matrix equation:

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

1
{ sn } = [A ]DST [Au ]{un} (56) = [Bs ]DKMT { sn } ; [Bs ]DKMT = [Bs ][A ]
(66)
where
where [B s ] is given by (19).
L4 C4 L4 S4 Considering equations (62) and (54) and then substituting into (22),
[A ]DST = [A ]DKT + L5 C5 L5 S5 [B s ]DST we obtain on each side:
L6 C6 L6 S6 (57)
2 wj wi 1 2
k sk = + (Ck xi + Sk yi + Ck xj + Sk yj ) + sk
3 Lk 2 3
2 1 0 0
[A ]DKT = 0 1 0 (67)
3 0 0 1 (58)
The left-hand side (l.h.s) part of (67) results from the assumed
and [Au ] given by (26). constant TS on each side considering the equilibrium and constitutive
Introduction of equations (56)–(58) into equation (37) leads to: equation (62). The right-hand side (r.h.s) part of (67) is the same as for
1
DKT and DST (involving sk ). We see that both parts of (67) imply the
{ } = [Bb ]{un} with [Bb] = [Bb ] + [Bb ][A ]DST [Au ] (59) three components sk (k = 4,5,6). We can then define the following
matrix equation:
Introduction of equations (56)–(58) into equation (47) leads to:
1
1
{ sn } = [A ]DKMT [Au ]{un} (68)
{ } = [Bs ]{un} with [Bs] = [B s ]DST [A ]DST [Au ] (60)
with:
As a result of (54–55), we can see that the elimination of { sn} will
destroy the C0 continuity of the rotations due to the TS effects (however
the proper rank is kept and DST will converge to DKT for thin plates, (1 + 4) 0 0
2
avoiding any shear locking). [A ]DKMT = [A ]DKT + [A ] = 0 (1 + 5) 0
3
0 0 (1 + 6)
5. Formulation of DKMT element (69)

The DKMT (Discrete Kirchhoff Mindlin Triangular) element pro- 1

0 0
(1 + 4 )
posed by Katili (1993a) in 1993 combines some ideas and formulation 3 1
with 1
[A ]DKMT = 0 0
aspects as found in DKT, T3γs, and DST to achieve a rather simple and 2 (1 + 5)
efficient 3 nodes, nine dof triangular element valid for thin to thick 0 0 1

plates (Fig. 5). The approximation of rotations βx and βy are the same as
(1 + 6 ) (70)
for DKT and DST (see equation (35) but the assumed TS field is similar and [Au ] given by (26).
compared to T3γs (Katili, 2004). In the spirit of DST, the independent The introduction of (68) into (37) leads to the bending curvatures
TS are expressed using local equilibrium and constitutive equations on as:
each side as for a beam.
1
In (Katili, 1993a), Katili proposed the assumed independent TS s { } = [Bb ]{un} where [Bb] = [Bb ] + [Bb ][A ]DKMT [Au ] (71)
along the side i-j, as:
and for the assumed TS (66,68), we obtain:
Db
= ,ss { } = [Bs ]{un}
s
Ds s (61)

with s (Fig. 6) previously defined in (34). On side k, (61) can be written

where:
as:
[Bs] = [j][Bs ] ; [Bs ] = [Bs ][A ][Au ] (72)
2
=
sk
3 k sk
(62) 4
0 0
(1 + 4 )
The coefficient ϕk for isotropic material is:
with: 1
[A ] = [A ][A ]DKMT = 0 5
0
(1 + 5)
Db 12 2 h2
= = 0 0 6
(73)
k
Ds Lk2 (1 ) Lk2 (63) (1 + 6)

where κ is the shear correction factor (usually κ = 5/6). If k is very small [A ] [0] then [A = [A Therefore 1
]DKMT 1
]DKT .
The factor ϕk characterizes the influence of shear, maintains the DKMT = DKT .
consistency of the proposed element and precisely explains why the If k is very large, then [A ]DKMT 1
= [0] leading to
[Bb ]DKMT = [Bb ]T 3 s = [Bb ] and [A ] [I ] leading to
DKMT element behaves properly for the thick and thin plates. In the
[Bs ]DKMT = [Bs ]T 3 s = [B s ][Au ] leading to DKMT = T 3 s = MITC 3.
thin plate situations, where factor ϕk tends to zero, the shear de-
formation contribution is automatically reduced and the shear locking is
avoided since the DKMT element converges to DKT. If (62) is applied on 6. Formulation of the MITC3+ element
all sides of the element, the following matrix relation is obtained:
In this section, the formulation of a new 3-nodes triangular plate
{ ns} = [A ]{ sn } (64) finite element, called MITC3+ is presented based on the concepts
earlier published for the MITC3 shell element (Lee et al., 2007, 2012;
4 0 0 Chapelle and Bathe, 2011). The MITC3+ element has been the subject
2 of several papers by Bathe, Lee, and co-authors, after 2014 (Lee et al.,
[A ] = 0 5 0
3 2014, 2015; Ko et al., 2017; Jeon et al., 2015) since the plate element
0 0 6 (65)
has been extended to shells and used for geometrical and modal ana-
Introducing (64–65) into (19), the shear strains for DKMT can be lysis.
expressed as: The MITC3+ element is such that the linear rotation field is

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

P7, x 0
also: [Bb ] = 0 P7, y
P7, y P7, x (77)

P7, x = j11 P7, + j12 P7, ; P7, y = j21 P7, + j22 P7, (78)
We remark that P7, and P7, are linear and quadratic in ξ,η.
The assumed TS field of the MITC3+ element is extracted from the
formulas given in different papers (Lee et al., 2014, 2015; Ko et al.,
2017; Jeon et al., 2015), with a preference to the explicit expressions
given in Ko et al. (2017) (2015) but we also consider the expressions of
rotations given by (74), in terms of x 7 and y7 .

= [Bs ]MITC 3+ {un} + [B s ]MITC3 + { n}

(79)
Fig. 7. MITC3+ element with 3 corner nodes and one temporary node at the
centroid. The TS matrix [B s ]MITC3 + related to the corner dof {un} can be se-
parated into the TS matrix of the MITC3 plate element plus the addition
enriched by cubic bubble functions for the two internal rotations of another TS matrix, i.e.:
(Fig. 7). Also a new assumed TS field (compared to MITC3) is developed [B s ]MITC3 + = [B s ]MITC3 + [Bs ]+ (80)
for the element. At the end, the internal rotations are condensed out at
the element level to obtain a 3 nodes, 3 dof per node element. with: [B s ]MITC3 = [Bs ]T 3 s given in (28–31).
The present formulation of MITC3+ differs from those found in (Lee
and:[Bs ]+ = [[Bs1 ]+ [Bs2 ]+ [Bs3 ]+ ] (81)
et al., 2014, 2015; Ko et al., 2017; Jeon et al., 2015), due to change in
notations and due to a different choice of formulation to take into ac-
0 x32 (3 1) y32 (3 1)
count the contribution of the bubble function to enhance the approx- [B s1 ]+ = dˆ
0 x32 (1 3 ) y32 (1 3) (82)
imations of the rotations βx and βy. Here we consider the increments of
rotations instead of the total variables, as we did for the formulation of
0 x13 (3 1) y13 (3 1)
DST and DKMT. Also, the presentation emphasizes on the links between [B s2 ]+ = dˆ
MITC3 and MITC3+. 0 x13 (1 3 ) y13 (1 3) (83)
As said, the rotations are enriched by a bubble function P7 at the
center of the element. The displacement and rotations are defined in a 0 x21 (3 1) y21 (3 1)
[B s3 ]+ = dˆ
hierarchical form as: 0 x21 (1 3 ) y21 (1 3) (84)
3 with: x32 = x3 - x2 and y32 = y3 - y2
w= Ni wi We see that remains linear in η and remains linear in ξ (as for
i=1 MITC3).
We propose the value of dˆ = 1/6 d with a value of d̂ very close to
3
1/6 since the value d = 10 4 has been suggested in the papers (Lee
x = Ni xi + P7 x7 et al., 2014, 2015; Ko et al., 2017; Jeon et al., 2015).
i=1
The TS matrix of the MITC3+ element related to the increments of
rotations is:
3

y = Ni yi + P7 y7 1 x21 y21
(74) [B s ]MITC3 + = x13 y13
i=1
2 (85)

Ni is the linear shape functions, x7 and y7 are the increments of

The assumed TS components of the MITC3+ element in the
rotations at the centroid and P7 is a cubic function (with order 2 Cartesian coordinates system can then be expressed by:
maximum in ξ and η):
x
{ }= = [j] = [B s ]MITC 3+ {un} + [B s ]MITC3 + { n}
P7 = 27N1 N2 N3 (75) y (86)
with:
The curvatures are expressed as:
[B s ]MITC 3 + = [j][Bs ]MITC 3 +
x x,x

{ }= y = y, y
[B s ]MITC 3 + = [j][Bs ]MITC 3 + (87)
xy
x, y + y, x

7. The element stiffness matrix of T3γs, DST, DKMT and MITC3+

{ } = [Bb ]{un} + [Bb ]{ n} (76)
The bending energy of one element can be written classically:
un = w1 x1 y1 w2 x2 y2 w3 x3 y3 are the dof at the
corner nodes. b 1
int = [Hb ]{ } dA
y7 are the increments of rotations at the internal
2 (88)
n = x7 A
node 7.
The curvatures of T3γs, DST and DKMT elements can be written as
Matrix [Bb ] (76) is the same as [Bb] (10) for MITC3 and T3γs and the
follows:
same as [Bb ] (37) for the DST and DKMT elements.
{ } = [Bb ]{un} (89)

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

Substituting (89) into (88), we obtain: [k b22] = [Bb ]TMITC 3+ [Hb ][Bb ]MITC 3 + dA
A (104)
b 1
= un [kb ]{un}
int
2 (90)
[k b12] = [Bb ]TMITC3 + [Hb ][Bb ]MITC3 + dA ; [kb21] = [kb12 ]T
with the bending stiffness matrix is given by: A (105)

[kb] = [Bb ]T [Hb ][Bb ] dA Due to the hierarchical form of the rotations, the integration in
A (91) (105) leads to:

For a linear elastic, isotropic homogeneous material, [Hb] is defined [k b21] = [k b21 ]T = [0] (106)
as: Substituting (86) into (93), the shear energy for each MITC3+
1 0 element can be expressed as:
Eh3
[Hb] = Db 1 0 ; Db =
12(1 2) 1 [k s11 ] [k s12 ] {un }
0 0 (1 )/2 (92) s
int = un n
2 [k s21 ] [k s22 ] { n} (107)
The TS energy of an element is written as follows:
with:
s 1
int = [Hs ]{ } dA
2 (93) [k s11] = [B s ]TMITC3 + [Hs ][B s ]MITC 3 + dA
A
A (108)
The TS for T3γs, DST and DKMT elements is given by:
[k s22] = [B s ]TMITC 3 + [Hs ][B s ]MITC 3 + dA
{ } = [Bs ]{un} (94) A (109)
Substituting (94) into (93), we obtain:
[k s12] = [B s ]TMITC 3+ [Hs ][B s ]MITC 3+ dA ; [k s21] = [k s12 ]T
s 1 A (110)
= un [ks ]{un}
int
2 (95)
The total energy (98) for one MITC3+ element can be expressed as:
with the shear stiffness matrix given by:
1 k11 k12 {un }
= un n un n {{fn }{0}}
[ks] = [Bs ]T [Hs ][Bs ] dA 2 k21 k22 { n} (111)
A (96)
For a linear elastic, isotropic homogeneous material, [Hs] is simply: Where:

[Hs] = Ds 1 0 ; Ds = Gh [k11] = [k b11] + [k s11] ; [k22] = [k b22] + [k s22 ]

0 1 (97)
[k12] = [k s12] ; [k21] = [k s21]
The total energy and element stiffness of the T3γs or MITC3, DST (112)
and DKMT element is then:
The variation of with respect to the internal variables { n} leads
= b
int + s
int ext (98) to:
Substituting (90) and (95) into (98), we obtain: [k21 ]{un} + [k22 ]{ n} = {0} (113)
1
= un [k ]{un} un {fn }
(99)
so that:{ n} = [k22] 1 [k21 ]{un} (114)
2
with the total element stiffness [k]: The static condensation of the rotations { n} leads to the final
stiffness matrix of the MITC3+ element given as:
[k ] = [kb] + [ks] (100)
[k ] = [k11] [k21 ]T [k22] 1 [k21] (115)
The stiffness matrix of the T3γs or MITC3, DST and DKMT elements
(100) are exactly obtained using 3 points of Hammer integration After obtaining the displacement solution {un} , substituting (114)
scheme and there is no spurious mode (proper rank). The T3γs (or into (76) and (86), the curvatures and shear strains are then calculated
MITC3) element is not optimal and suffers from shear locking. If for by:
T3γs a reduced integration is considered (one point) or assuming that { } = [Bb ]MITC3 + {un}
[Bs] is constant, i.e. for:
[Bb ]MITC3 + = [Bb ]MITC3 + [Bb ]MITC3 + [k22] 1 [k21 ]
1 2 2 1
[N ] =
3 1 2 2 (101)
{ } = [Bs ]MITC3 + {un}
then the locking is largely reduced for large slenderness ratio, but a
spurious mode exists (at least at one element level). The stiffness ma-
[Bs ]MITC3 + = [B s ]MITC3 + [B s ]MITC3 + [k22] 1 [k21]
trices of DST and DKMT have a proper rank, but only the DKMT ele-
ment fully satisfies all constant patch tests for thin to thick plates.
Substituting (76) into (88), the bending energy for one MITC3+
element can be expressed as:

b 1 [k b11 ] [k b12 ] {un }

int = un n
2 [k b21 ] [k b22 ] { n} (102)
with:

[k b11] = [Bb ]TMITC3 + [Hb ][Bb ]MITC 3+ dA

(103) (116)
A

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

And for the four elements, bending moments and TS forces, are through analytical methods or numerical methods. In practice, analy-
obtained using the stress–strain law. tical solutions are available only for simple geometries. Hence numer-
ical methods are frequently preferred to define the reference solutions.
{M } = [Hb ]{ } ; {T } = [Hs ]{ } (117)
When the exact solution is known, equation (118) becomes:
Ex 2 FE 2
e FE 2
8. Numerical results based on s-norm ER = = int int
Ex 2
int
Ex 2
int (124)
For the numerical results we focus on the use of the s-norms tests to resulting from the use of the principle of virtual work. refers to Ex 2
int
measure the solution accuracy of the four triangular elements. The s- the exact solution and intFE 2
refers to the finite element model for a
norm tests have been proposed around 15 years ago by Bathe, Chapelle given mesh.
and their collaborators (Chapelle and Bathe, 2011; Hiller and Bathe,
NELT
2003; Beirão da Veiga et al., 2007; Chapelle and Paris Suarez, 2008) FE 2
= FE 2
int int e
and found appropriate for bending dominated problems. 1 (125)
The s-norm is quite practical, and gives in all cases the proper in-
dication regarding convergence and lack of shear locking. The error NELT is the total number of elements in the reference mesh.
measure is a relative error in energy given by: FE 2 1 1
int e = MFE [Hb] 1 {MFE } dA + TFE [Hs] 1 {TFE } dA
Ref FE 2 2 A 2 A
e FE 2 int int
ES = = (126)
Ref 2
int
Ref 2
int (118)
In the s-norm method, the errors are represented by plotting curves
where: of log10 (ES) in terms of log10 (Lk) where Lk represents an indicator of
the element size in a mesh (in our work Lk is the element size for square
− int ,
Ref
ref and ref refer to the strain energy, the strains and the elements and an average element size for distorted meshes as for cir-
conjugate stresses of the reference solution which can be defined by cular plates). The resulting curves based on several values of Lk are
analytical expressions (as for circular plates, see (Batoz and Dhatt, compared with the slopes p = 1 of the theoretical convergence (energy)
1990; Katili, 1993a; Katili et al., 2015b)) or numerically by using a formula:
very fine mesh with “good” elements.
− e FE 2 = ref
int
FE 2
int is the relative error in internal energies, de- ES c Lk2p
fined below (eqs. (121) and (122)).
− = ref FE represents the difference between the strains in the
resulting in
reference solution and the strains of the finite element under study.
= ref FE represents the corresponding stresses, linked to the
strains via the constitutive equations. log10Es = log10 c + 2p log10Lk (127)
− Even if an analytical solution is available it is not always easy to
where c is a constant. We use reference lines for equation (127) with
express int Ref 2
and usually a very fine mesh is used. In the following
p = 1 corresponding to a linear convergence. It is clear that the s-norm
section we consider meshes of 128 × 128 × 2 elements using DKMT
does not measure local errors in strains or stresses.
elements.
The four elements DKMT, DST, T3γs and MITC3+ have been pro-
− For the present plate bending problems, we then have:
grammed by the authors with results reported below for regular and
distorted meshes, for rectangular and circular plates under uniform
NELT
Ref 2 Ref 2
=
int int e
(119) loading and for various slenderness ratio (for thick to very thin plates).
1
For uniform loading, a linear approximation for the transverse dis-
NELT is the total number of elements in the reference mesh. In our placement w (ξ, η) is used for all elements to define the equivalent load
case the strains and stresses are represented by curvatures, transverse vectors. We only report the values for very thick (L/h = 2) to very thin
shear strains, bending moments and shear forces, so that: plates (L/h = 10000) to obtain the convergence slope for clarity of the
Ref 2 1 1 Figures.
= MRef [Hb] 1 {MRef } dA + TRef [Hs] 1 {TRef } dA
int e
2 A 2 A In Table 1 we propose an evaluation of the characteristics and
(120) performances of the 4 elements based on our experience of program-
ming and on results of classical tests and on the results reported in this
and section.

8.1. Clamped square plate

NELT
Ref FE 2 Ref FE 2
=
int int int int e We analyze a clamped square plate under uniform loading fz where
e=1 (121)
the details can be seen on Fig. 8. Because of symmetry, only area ABCD
e FE 2 = Ref
int
FE 2
int e = is considered with hard support conditions w = βy = βx = 0 along AB
and AD. The symmetry condition βx = 0 along BC and βy = 0 along DC
1 1 are taken into account.
M [Hb] 1 { M } dA + T [Hs] 1 { T } dA Table 2 shows the percentage of bending and shear energy for a
2 A 2 A (122)
clamped square plate using N × N = 128 × 128 × 2 DKMT elements
where for different L/h.
For a thick plate (L/h = 2), the shear energy reaches 61% but still
bending exists since the bending energy is 39% of the total energy. TS
M = MRef MFE ; T = TRef TFE (123)
effects quickly vanish for L/h > 102.
Integration is performed on each element using 3 Hammer points in By using N × N × 2 = 128 × 128 × 2 DKMT elements as reference
the reference mesh. solution and considering L/h = 2 and 104, Fig. 9 shows the convergence
As said before the reference solutions int
Ref
can either be obtained behavior of DKMT, DST, MITC3 and MITC3+ elements for N = 4, 8, 16

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

Table 1 Table 2
Element characteristics based on classical evaluation tests and formulation as- Two times bending and shear energy for clamped square plate and for various
pects. L/h using 128 × 128 × 2 DKMT elements.
Element characteristics T3γS DST DKMT MITC3+ L/h 2 b
(%) 2 s
int (%) 2 Ref
(%)
int int
1982 1989 1993 2014
−8 −8
2 3.267 × 10 39.06% 5.097 × 10 60.94% 8.364 × 10−8 100%
Pass the patch test for thin plates. Yes Yes Yes Yes
4 3.526 × 10−7 70.38% 1.063 × 10−7 29.62% 3.589 × 10−7 100%
Pass the patch test for thick plates. Yes No Yes Yes
10 3.896 × 10−6 93.25% 2.821 × 10−7 6.75% 4.178 × 10−6 100%
Relatively insensitive to distortion. Yes Yes Yes Yes
102 3.892 × 10−3 99.93% 2.811 × 10−6 0.07% 3.894 × 10−3 100%
No shear locking for thin plates. No Yes Yes Yes
103 3.892 × 100 100% 3.141 × 10−5 0% 3.892 × 100 100%
Simplicity of formulation and programming. Yes No Yes Yes
104 3.892 × 103 100% 3.189 × 10−4 0% 3.892 × 103 100%
Proper rank (Exhibit no spurious zero-energy Yes Yes Yes Yes
modes)
Good convergence properties in classical No Yes Yes Yes
engineering tests. plates (shear locking) and for DST for thick ones. Otherwise, similar
behavior is observed for T3γs, DKMT and MITC3+ for thick plates.
Finally, excellent performance is shown for DST and DKMT in the ex-
and 32. treme case of L/h = 104. The distortion of elements slightly increases
The comments are: the errors similarly (Fig. 14) for all elements.

− For L/h = 2, only DST is not converging properly but DKMT, T3γs
and MITC3+ are showing a uniform optimal linear convergence
rate.
− For L/h = 104, T3γs = MITC3 suffers from severe shear locking, DST
and DKMT are giving the same results, slightly better than MITC3+,
but the 3 elements show a uniform linear convergence slope.
We also consider the effect of distortion (Fig. 10). The distorted
mesh characteristics are as follows: each segment of length 2L/3 and L/
3 on a side is successively divided by 2, 4, 8, 16 equal segments.
Fig. 11 shows the convergence behavior of the DKMT, DST, MITC3
and MITC3+ elements with the distorted mesh presented in Fig. 10 for
N = 4, 8, 16 and 32.
Similar comments for the distorted meshes can be made compared
to uniform meshes (Fig. 11) although the errors are slightly increasing.
Distortion of elements is almost insignificant for this test.
8.2. Simply supported (SS) square plate
A simply supported square plate with hard support conditions
(w = βs = 0) under uniform loading fz is also studied (Fig. 12). Again
the solution using DKMT elements with N × N × 2 = 128 × 128 × 2 is
considered as the reference solution.
Table 3 shows the percentage of bending and shear energy for a
simply supported square plate using N × N × 2 = 128 × 128 × 2
DKMT elements for different L/h. We can see the strong influence of the
boundary conditions: the percentage of bending strain energy is very
important for the SS case compared to the clamped case (Table 3) even
for very thick plates, (bending strain energy is 73% of the total strain
energy for L/h = 2). TS effects quickly vanish for L/h > 10.
The convergence behavior of DKMT, MITC3, MITC3+ and DST
elements for L/h = 2 and 104 is presented in Fig. 13 for uniform mesh
and on Fig. 14 for distorted mesh for N = 4, 8, 16 and 32 respectively.
Again we observe the poor behavior of MITC3 (T3γs) for the thin
8.3. Clamped circular plate with uniform load
We now consider a clamped circular plate with hard support con-
ditions (w = βy = βx = 0) under uniform loading fz (Fig. 15). Only area
ABC is discretised. In this problem, an analytical solution exists (Batoz
and Dhatt, 1990; Katili, 1993a, 1993b) and we can use the exact ex-
pression of the total internal strain energy to evaluate the relative en-
ergy errors. One-quarter ABC is divided into 3 zones and for each zone,
we consider N × N × 3 × 2 elements.
Two times exact internal energy for clamped circular plate (Katili,
1993a, 1993b):
Ex b s
f z2 R6 f z2 R6 4(h /R) 2
2 int =2 int +2 int = +
384Db 384Db (1 )
φ defines the size of the sector analyzed (φ = π/2 for our analysis).
Table 4 shows the percentage of bending and shear energy com-
pared to the total exact internal strain energy for the clamped circular
plate for different R/h using exact solution. The ratio of bending and
shear is similar for circular and square plates.
In Table 5, we report the results for the central displacement for
three R/h values and for the 4 elements under study. Results depend on
the element with poor results for T3γs when R/h > 100. However not
bad results are obtained using DST for R/h = 2. The total energy is
found rather insensitive to the mesh size and element (except for T3γs).
In Fig. 16, we present the convergence behavior using DKMT, DST,
MITC3, MITC3+ elements in the spirit of s-norm tests with results of
Log ER as a function of Log Lk for R/h = 2 and 104 and using meshes
N × N × 3 × 2 with N = 8, 16, 24, 32 and 64. Again we observe the
uniform linear convergence behavior for all elements (excluding DST
for R/h = 2 and T3γs for R/h = 104).
In Fig. 17, we present the convergence of the shear force Tr and the
distribution along A-B for DKMT, DST, MITC3, MITC3+ using
16 × 16 × 2 × 3 elements for a clamped circular plate with R/h = 5.

8.4. Simply supported (SS) circular plate with uniform load

A simply supported circular plate with soft support conditions

(w = 0) under uniform loading fz is also studied (Fig. 18) for R/h = 2
and 104 and for different meshes. One-quarter ABC is divided into 3
zones and for each zone, we consider N × N × 3 × 2 elements.
Two times exact internal energy for simply supported (SS) circular
plate (Katili, 1993a, 1993b):

Ex b s
f z2 R6 (7 + ) f z2 R6 4(h/ R) 2
2 int =2 int +2 int = +
384Db (1 + ) 384Db (1 )

φ defines the size of the sector analyzed and φ = π/2 for our ana-
Fig. 8. Clamped square plate (E = 1.7472 × 107; υ = 0.3; L = 1; fz = −1). lysis.

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

Fig. 9. Convergence behavior for clamped square plates by using s-norm and for uniform meshes.

Fig. 12. Simply supported square plate (E = 1.7472 × 107; υ = 0.3; L = 1;

fz = −1).

Fig. 10. Distorted mesh of square plate. Table 3

Two times bending and shear energy for SS square plate and for various L/h
Table 6 shows the percentage of bending and shear energy on the using 128 × 128 × 2 DKMT element.
total exact strain energy for a simply supported circular plate based on L/h 2 b
(%) 2 s
int (%) 2 Ref
(%)
int int
the exact solution for different R/h.
The percentage of bending strain energy is very important for the SS 2 1.362 × 10−7 73.07% 5.020 × 10−8 26.93% 1.864 × 10−7 100%
case compared to the clamped case (Table 6) even for very thick plates. 4 1.090 × 10−6 91.56% 1.004 × 10−7 8.44% 1.190 × 10−6 100%
10 1.702 × 10−5 98.55% 2.508 × 10−7 1.45% 1.728 × 10−5 100%
Hence performing finite elements in bending is an advantage for the
102 1.702 × 10−2 99.99% 2.348 × 10−6 0.01% 1.703 × 10−2 100%
same number of dof involved. 103 1.702 × 101 100% 2.145 × 10−6 0% 1.702 × 101 100%
Table 7 reports the central displacements for a simply supported 104 1.702 × 104 100% 2.160 × 10−5 0% 1.702 × 104 100%
circular plate using the four elements and various R/h.

Fig. 11. Convergence behavior for clamped square plate by using s-norm and for with distorted mesh.

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

Fig. 13. Convergence behavior for SS square plate using s-norm and for uniform mesh.

Fig. 14. Convergence behavior for SS square plate using s-norm and for distorted mesh.

MITC3+ for both R/h = 2 and R/h = 104.

In Fig. 19, results of the s-norm tests (using ER) are presented for
N = 8, 16, 24, 32 and 64.
In Fig. 20, we present the convergence of the shear force Tr and the
distribution along A-B for DKMT, DST, MITC3, MITC3+ using
16 × 16 × 2 × 3 elements for a SS circular plate with R/h = 5. Results
are similar to Fig. 17.

9. Concluding remarks

Using a unique notation system, the paper presents a detailed for-

mulation of the strain operators and stiffness matrices of four triangular
Fig. 15. Clamped circular plate (E = 1.7472 × 107; υ = 0.3; R = 1; fz = −1). plate bending elements with 3 dof per node (i.e. one displacement and 2
rotations). The elements include transverse shear effects.
The paper shows clearly the links between pairs of elements like
Table 4
T3γs (original ideas by Hughes and Taylor, 1982) and MITC3 by Lee and
Two times bending, shear and total exact energy for clamped circular plate and
various R/h. Bathe (2004) based on assumed independent transverse shear strain
fields and shear constraints (or shear projection). Both elements are
R/h s
(%)
(%) (%) ending with the same stiffness matrix.
b 2 Ex
2 int int 2 int

−8 −8 The other pair is DST by Batoz and Lardeur (1989) and DKMT by
2 2.045 × 10 36.84% 3.506 × 10 63.16% 5.552 × 10−8 100%
4 1.636 × 10−7 70.00% 7.012 × 10−8 30.00% 2.337 × 10−7 100% Katili (1993a,b). Both elements are using the same incomplete quad-
10 2.557 × 10−6 93.58% 1.753 × 10−7 6.42% 2.732 × 10−6 100% ratic approximations of the rotations but differ in the way of re-
102 2.557 × 10−3 99.93% 1.753 × 10−6 0.07% 2.558 × 10−3 100% presenting the transverse shear effects and the imposition of constraints
103 2.557 × 100 100% 1.753 × 10−5 0% 2.555 × 100 100% along the element sides. DKMT is simpler than DST and valid for any
104 2.557 × 103 100% 1.753 × 10−4 0% 2.557 × 103 100%
aspect ratio.
A third pair can be MITC3 and MITC3+, MITC3+ being the most
We observe less shear locking using T3γs, compared with the recent proposal of triangular elements with shear effects by Bathe, Lee
clamped plate case but again the poor performance of DST for R/h = 2 et al., (2014). Our paper details the formulation of MITC3+ in a
is maintained. We remark the overall best performances of DKMT and slightly different manner compared with the original papers, with em-
phasis between MITC3 and MITC3+ and also between DKMT. The

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

Table 5
Normalized of central displacements w¯ c = wc × Db × 103/ fz R 4 for the clamped circular plate.

N R/h = 10000 R/h = 100 R/h = 2

DKMT DST T3γs MITC3+ DKMT DST T3γs MITC3+ DKMT DST T3γs MITC3+

8 15.686 15.686 0.016 15.378 15.693 15.692 12.915 15.395 33.273 33.673 32.791 33.018
16 15.642 15.642 0.331 15.561 15.649 15.649 15.307 15.568 33.417 33.930 33.294 33.349
32 15.630 15.630 3.301 15.608 15.636 15.638 15.588 15.616 33.463 34.038 33.432 33.445
64 15.626 15.626 11.213 15.621 15.633 15.640 15.624 15.628 33.477 34.081 33.469 33.472
128 15.625 15.625 15.137 15.624 15.632 15.646 15.630 15.631 33.481 34.098 33.479 33.479
Exact 15.625 15.632 33.482

Fig. 16. Convergence behavior of clamped circular plate using Log (|ER|) versus Log (Lk).

Fig. 17. Convergence of shear forces Tr at B and distribution along A-B for a clamped circular plate and N = 8.

Table 6
Two times bending, shear and total exact energy for SS circular plate and
various R/h using exact solution.
R/h 2 b
(%) 2 s
int (%) 2 Ex
int (%)
int

2 1.149 × 10−8 76.61% 3.506 × 10−8 23.39% 1.499 × 10−8 100%

4 9.188 × 10−7 92.91% 7.012 × 10−8 7.09% 9.889 × 10−7 100%
10 1.436 × 10−5 98.79% 1.753 × 10−7 1.21% 1.453 × 10−5 100%
102 1.436 × 10−2 99.99% 1.753 × 10−6 0.01% 1.436 × 10−2 100%
103 1.436 × 101 100% 1.753 × 10−5 0% 1.436 × 101 100%
104 1.436 × 104 100% 1.753 × 10−4 0% 1.436 × 104 100%

correct linear behavior in the s-norm tests and are not subjected to
Fig. 18. Simply supported circular plate (E = 1.7472 × 107; υ = 0.3; R = 1;
shear locking. For the same mesh, DKMT shows slightly less errors
fz = −1).
compared to MITC3+ and the derivation of its stiffness matrix is easier
with no adjustable parameters and static condensation.
three elements have the same asymptotic behavior for very thick plates.
The final pair of elements for discussion is DKMT and MITC3+ since
they are the best performers for any slenderness ratio. They both have a

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I. Katili, et al. European Journal of Mechanics / A Solids 78 (2019) 103826

Table 7
Normalized of central displacements w¯ c = wc × Db × 103/ fz R 4 for the SS circular plate.

N R/h = 10000 R/h = 100 R/h = 2

DKMT DST T3γs MITC3+ DKMT DST T3γs MITC3+ DKMT DST T3γs MITC3+

4 63.491 63.491 58.776 63.179 63.497 61.496 61.645 63.195 81.071 81.869 80.588 80.815
8 63.650 63.650 59.437 63.568 63.656 63.656 63.340 63.576 81.424 82.504 81.301 81.356
16 63.689 63.689 59.770 63.668 63.695 63.698 63.648 63.675 81.522 82.718 81.491 81.505
32 63.699 63.699 61.246 63.693 63.705 63.716 63.696 63.700 81.549 82.789 81.541 81.545
64 63.701 63.701 63.261 63.700 63.708 63.733 63.706 63.707 81.556 82.815 81.554 81.555
Exact 63.702 63.709 81.559

Fig. 19. Convergence behavior of SS circular plate using Log (|ER|) versus Log (Lk).

Fig. 20. Convergence of shear force Tr at B and distribution along A-B of SS circular plate using N = 8.

Acknowledgements
The financial support from the Ministry of Research, Technology
and Higher Education (RISTEKDIKTI), Indonesia through the PDUPT
(NKB-1640/UN2.R3.1/HKP.05.00/2019) and World Class Professor
program (No.123.3/D2.3/KP/2018) is gratefully acknowledged.
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