Applied Mathematical Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

Spline-based differential quadrature for fourth order

differential equations and its application to
Kirchhoff plates
Hongzhi Zhong *

Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Received 23 August 2001; received in revised form 20 October 2003; accepted 24 October 2003

Abstract

A quintic B-spline-based differential quadrature method (SDQM) is developed to deal with fourth order
differential equations. With the construction of cardinal spline interpolations using the normalized quintic
B-spline functions, explicit expressions of weighting coefficients for approximation of derivatives are ob-
tained. Some bending, buckling problems of the Kirchhoff plate characterized by fourth order differential
equations are studied using the method. Very good agreement with other available solutions is reached.
Numerical results show that the newly constructed spline-based differential quadrature is more versatile
than the conventional differential quadrature. The present spline-based differential quadrature is found to
be an effective alternative to the conventional differential quadrature.
Ó 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Differential quadrature method; Spline-based differential quadrature method; Weighting coefficients;
Numerical techniques

1. Introduction

The differential quadrature method (DQM) has attracted appreciable attention over the past
two decades. The initial idea dates back to the work of Bellman and Casti [1]. The method owes its
increasing popularity to its simplicity and high efficiency. It has found many applications in
engineering and physical areas. A comprehensive review of the differential quadrature method has
been given by Bert and Malik [2]. As has been pointed out, the differential quadrature method is

*
Tel.: +86-10-6278-1891; fax: +86-10-6277-1132.
E-mail address: hzz@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn (H. Zhong).

0307-904X/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apm.2003.10.003
354 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

actually polynomial fitting of functions [2,3] and the Lagrange interpolation functions are usually
used as basis functions to obtain the weighting coefficients for approximation of derivatives [4,5]
in the method. It is well known that Lagrange interpolation polynomials suffer from severe
oscillations and even become unbounded when the order is large [6]. Consequently, the number of
grid points involved in the conventional differential quadrature is usually restricted to below 30,
and to the best knowledge of the author, it cannot be applied directly to problems with discon-
tinuity [7,8]. Furthermore, it has been reported that the conventional differential quadrature
method is also hindered when severely distorted deformation mode occurs in a structural stability
analysis [9].
The object of the present paper is to develop spline-based differential quadrature method for
problems with high order differential equations such as C 1 continuity problems––Kirchhoff plate
analysis being one of them. A cardinal quintic spline interpolation function over a normalized
finite range of variable is constructed and explicit expressions of the weighting coefficients for
derivatives are obtained. Two examples are provided to verify the present method. It is found that
the present spline-base differential quadrature method converges relatively slowly in comparison
with the conventional differential quadrature method, but it is justified by its versatility and
reliability. It is shown in the examples that the spline-based differential quadrature can be applied
to problems that pose difficulty to the conventional differential quadrature.

2. Cardinal quintic B-spline interpolation

The governing differential equations for C 1 continuity problems are often given in fourth order
forms. Naturally, quintic B-splines can be used to construct the basis functions for differential
quadrature since the fourth order derivatives of the basis functions are continuous. First of all, a
set of uniformly spaced knots is selected in a normalized interval ½0; 1, i.e.,
x0 ¼ 0; xN ¼ 1; xjþ1  xj ¼ h; j ¼ 0; 1; 2; . . . ; N  1; ð1Þ

where N þ 1 is the number of nodes (knots) in the interval, h the length of every segment. The
normalized quintic B-spline function [6] is given by
8
>
> 0; jxj P 3h;
>
>
1 < ð3h  jxjÞ5 ; 2h 6 jxj 6 3h;
u5 ðxÞ ¼ ð2Þ
120h5 >
>
> ð3h  jxjÞ5  6ð2h  jxjÞ5 ; h 6 jxj 6 2h;
>
:
ð3h  jxjÞ5  6ð2h  jxjÞ5 þ 15ðh  jxjÞ5 ; 0 6 x 6 h:
Apparently, u5 ðxÞ is a piecewise polynomial which covers six consecutive segments only (see
Fig. 1). To construct a global interpolation function over the interval, usually extra nodes outside
the interval ½x0 ; xN  are needed to meet the end condition requirements. A typical spline inter-
polation over the given interval based on the quintic B-splines can be written as
X
N þ3
s5 ðxÞ ¼ Uj ðxÞyj ; Uj ðxÞ ¼ U0 ðx  jhÞ: ð3Þ
j¼3
 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366 355

Fig. 1. A quintic B-spline function.

In order to meet the required interpolation condition

s5 ðxi Þ ¼ yi ; ð4Þ
the interpolation functions Uj ðxÞ should satisfy the cardinal condition at every node, i.e.,

1; i ¼ j;
Uj ðxi Þ ¼ dij ¼
0; otherwise;
i; j ¼ 3; 2; 1; 0; 1; . . . ; N  1; N ; N þ 1; N þ 2; N þ 3; ð5Þ
where Uj ðxÞ are usually given in terms of a combination of translated and scaled spline function
u5 .
Generally, the construction of the cardinal spline interpolation function Uj ðxÞ begins with the
introduction of some auxiliary spline interpolation functions [10]. In this paper, the following four
auxiliary spline interpolation functions are constructed
X
N þ3
w5 ðxÞ ¼ yj u5 ðx  xj Þ; ð6aÞ
j¼3

h1=3i
X
N þ3
h1=3i
w5 ðxÞ ¼ y j u5 ðx  xj Þ; ð6bÞ
j¼3

h2=3i
X
N þ3
h2=3i
w5 ðxÞ ¼ y j u5 ðx  xj Þ; ð6cÞ
j¼3

h1i
X
Nþ3
h1i
w5 ðxÞ ¼ yj u5 ðx  xj Þ; ð6dÞ
j¼3
356 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

where
h1=3i
u5 ðxÞ u5 ðx þ h=3Þ þ u5 ðx  h=3Þ; ð7aÞ

uh2=3i
5 ðxÞ u5 ðx þ 2h=3Þ þ u5 ðx  2h=3Þ; ð7bÞ
h1i
u5 ðxÞ u5 ðx þ hÞ þ u5 ðx  hÞ: ð7cÞ
With the local non-zero property of the spline function u5 ðxÞ, the above four auxiliary spline
interpolation functions can be linearly combined and all the terms but the one containing yj on the
right sides of Eqs. (6) can be eliminated. In doing so, the cardinal spline interpolation function is
obtained as
20523 3483 h1=3i 8829 h2=3i 131 h1i
s5 ðxÞ ¼ w5 ðxÞ  w5 ðxÞ þ w5 ðxÞ  w ðxÞ; s5 ðxÞ 2 C 4 ; ð8Þ
440 110 880 110 5
where C 4 denotes the set of functions whose derivatives are continuous up to the fourth order.
Thus, the cardinal interpolation function at every node is determined and given by
20523 3483 h1=3i 8829 h2=3i 131 h1i
Uj ðxÞ ¼ u ðx  xj Þ  u ðx  xj Þ þ u ðx  xj Þ  u ðx  xj Þ: ð9Þ
440 5 110 5 880 5 110 5
It can be shown readily that the cardinal interpolation condition prescribed in Eqs. (4) and (5) are
satisfied at every node. Fig. 2 illustrates the cardinal spline interpolation function U0 ðxÞ. For
convenience of later usage, the functions values and the derivative values of U0 ðxÞ at some selected
points are listed in Table 1.
In the present formulation, non-integral nodes within the interval are introduced to get rid of
those extra nodes outside the interval. Namely, x1=3 ¼ h=3, x2=3 ¼ 2h=3, x4=3 ¼ 4h=3 and
xN 4=3 ¼ ðN  4=3Þh, xN2=3 ¼ ðN  2=3Þh, xN 1=3 ¼ ðN  1=3Þh are added in the vicinity of the
two ends of the interval. The system of node designation is illustrated in Fig. 3. Moreover, the
function values at the non-integral nodes can be given by

Fig. 2. A typical quintic cardinal spline function U0 ðxÞ.

 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366 357

Table 1
Function values and derivative values at selected points
ð1Þ ð2Þ ð3Þ ð4Þ
x U0 ðxÞ hU0 ðxÞ h2 U0 ðxÞ h3 U0 ðxÞ h4 U0 ðxÞ
0 1 0 )4.5303 0 107.1364
h=3 0.7868 «1.0979 )1.5678 ± 8.8068 )54.2955
2h=3 0.3705 «1.3123 .2000 ± 7.3456 45.5284
h 0 «0.7500 2.8561 ± 1.6250 )79.8523
4h=3 )0.1102 «0.01828 1.1496 «5.2997 38.3042
5h=3 )0.07165 ± 0.2140 0.3957 «2.5696 )21.9235
2h 0 ± 0.1500 )0.6924 «1.000 31.3409
7h=3 0.01671 «0.01447 )0.1434 ± 1.7181 )15.0326
8h=3 0.008884 «0.02828 )0.02993 ± 0.09021 5.2655
3h 0 «0.01667 0.1015 ± 0.1250 )5.0568
10h=3 )0.0009628 ± 0.004641 0.003121 «0.2927 2.5504
11h=3 )0.00004084 ± 0.0006126 )0.007351 ± 0.06616 )0.3970
4h 0 0 0 0 0

h h h h h h h h

0 N
1 2 3 4 ...... N-2 N-1
N-4 N-3
N –1 3
13 2 3 4 3 N −4 3 N −2 3

Fig. 3. Node designation system in quintic B-spline-based differential quadrature.

X
N þ3          
h 10h 7h 4h h
y1=3 ¼ Ui y i ¼ U0 y3 þ U0 y2 þ U0 y1 þ U0 y0
i¼3
3 3 3 3 3
       
2h 5h 8h 11h
þ U0  y1 þ U0  y2 þ U0  y2 þ U0  y3 ; ð10aÞ
3 3 3 3

X
N þ3         
2h 11h 8h 5h 2h
y2=3 ¼ Ui yi ¼ U0 y3 þ U0 y2 þ U0 y1 þ U0 y0
i¼3
3 3 3 3 3
       
h 4h 7h 10h
þ U0  y 1 þ U0  y 2 þ U0  y 2 þ U0  y3 ; ð10bÞ
3 3 3 3
and

X
N þ3          
h 10h 7h 4h h
y4=3 ¼ Ui yi ¼ U0 y2 þ U0 y1 þ U0 y 0 þ U0 y1
i¼3
3 3 3 3 3
       
2h 5h 8h 11h
þ U0  y 2 þ U0  y3 þ U0  y4 þ U0  y5 : ð10cÞ
3 3 3 3
358 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

Then, the function values at the extra nodes are obtained by solving Eqs. (10a)–(10c)
y3 ¼ 323:0997y0  1144:3356y1=3 þ 2492:6522y2=3  4008:3657y1 þ 3140:5308y4=3
 970:7045y2 þ 193:5434y3  25:5485y4 þ 0:1283y5 ; ð11aÞ

y2 ¼ 24:2561y0  9:8271y1=3 þ 231:6767y2=3  909:3003y1 þ 928:6157y4=3

 319:1859y2 þ 62:7542y3  8:0275y4 þ 0:03793y5 ; ð11bÞ

y1 ¼ 7:9936y0  0:5662y1=3 þ 13:3492y2=3  99:4802y1 þ 113:3507y4=3  40:5614y2

þ 7:9039y3  0:9942y4 þ 0:004629y5 : ð11cÞ
Similarly, the function values at the extra nodes outside the right end of the interval can be ex-
pressed as
yN þ1 ¼ 7:9936yN  0:5662yN 1=3 þ 13:3492yN 2=3  99:4802yN 1 þ 113:3507yN 4=3
 40:5614yN2 þ 7:9039yN3  0:9942yN4 þ 0:004630yN5 ; ð12aÞ

yN þ2 ¼ 24:2561yN  9:8271yN 1=3 þ 231:6767yN 2=3  909:3003yN1 þ 928:6157yN4=3

 319:1859yN 2 þ 62:7542yN3  8:0276yN4 þ 0:03793yN 5 ; ð12bÞ

yN þ3 ¼ 323:0997yN  1144:3356yN1=3 þ 2492:6522yN2=3  4008:3658yN1

þ 3140:5308yN4=3  970:7045yN 2 þ 193:5434yN 3  25:5485yN 4
þ 0:1283yN 5 : ð12cÞ
Now, the cardinal cubic B-spline interpolation function in Eq. (3) can be rearranged into the
following form which is devoid of extra outside nodes
XN 
1; i ¼ j;
s3 ðxÞ ¼ Xj ðxÞyj ; Xj ðxi Þ ¼ dij ¼
j¼0
0; otherwise;
i; j ¼ 0; 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3; N  1=3; N ; ð13Þ
where
X0 ðxÞ ¼ 323:0997U3 ðxÞ þ 24:2561U2 ðxÞ þ 7:9936U1 ðxÞ þ U0 ðxÞ;
X1=3 ðxÞ ¼ 1144:3356U3 ðxÞ  9:8271U2 ðxÞ  0:5662U1 ðxÞ;
X2=3 ðxÞ ¼ 2492:6522U3 ðxÞ þ 231:6767U2 ðxÞ þ 13:3492U1 ðxÞ;
X1 ðxÞ ¼ 4008:3657U3 ðxÞ  909:3003U2 ðxÞ  99:4802U1 ðxÞ þ U1 ðxÞ;
X4=3 ðxÞ ¼ 3140:5308U3 ðxÞ þ 928:6157U2 ðxÞ þ 113:3507U1 ðxÞ; ð14aÞ
X2 ðxÞ ¼ 970:7045U3 ðxÞ  319:1859U2 ðxÞ  40:5614U1 ðxÞ þ U2 ðxÞ;
X3 ðxÞ ¼ 193:5434U3 ðxÞ þ 62:7542U2 ðxÞ þ 7:9039U1 ðxÞ þ U3 ðxÞ;
X4 ðxÞ ¼ 25:5485U3 ðxÞ  8:0275U2 ðxÞ  0:9942U1 ðxÞ þ U4 ðxÞ;
X5 ðxÞ ¼ 0:1283U3 ðxÞ þ 0:03793U2 ðxÞ þ 0:004629U1 ðxÞ þ U5 ðxÞ;

Xj ðxÞ ¼ Uj ðxÞ for 6 6 j 6 N  6; ð14bÞ

 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366 359

and
XN5 ðxÞ ¼ 0:1283UNþ3 ðxÞ þ 0:03793UN þ2 ðxÞ þ 0:004629UNþ1 ðxÞ þ UN 5 ðxÞ;
XN4 ðxÞ ¼ 25:5485UN þ3 ðxÞ  8:0275UNþ2 ðxÞ  0:9942UN þ1 ðxÞ þ UN 4 ðxÞ;
XN3 ðxÞ ¼ 193:5434UN þ3 ðxÞ þ 62:7542UN þ2 ðxÞ þ 7:9039UNþ1 ðxÞ þ UN 3 ðxÞ;
XN2 ðxÞ ¼ 970:7045UNþ3 ðxÞ  319:1859UN þ2 ðxÞ  40:5614UN þ1 ðxÞ þ UN 2 ðxÞ;
XN4=3 ðxÞ ¼ 3140:5308UN þ3 ðxÞ þ 928:6157UN þ2 ðxÞ þ 113:3507UN þ1 ðxÞ; ð14cÞ
XN1 ðxÞ ¼ 4008:3657UN þ3 ðxÞ  909:3003UN þ2 ðxÞ  99:4802UN þ1 ðxÞ þ UN1 ðxÞ;
XN2=3 ðxÞ ¼ 2492:6522UN þ3 ðxÞ þ 231:6767UN þ2 ðxÞ þ 13:3492UNþ1 ðxÞ;
XN1=3 ðxÞ ¼ 1144:3356UNþ3 ðxÞ  9:8271UN þ2 ðxÞ  0:5662UN þ1 ðxÞ;
XN ðxÞ ¼ 323:0997UN þ3 ðxÞ þ 24:2561UNþ2 ðxÞ þ 7:9936UN þ1 ðxÞ þ UN ðxÞ:

3. Weighting coefficients for the quintic B-spline-based differential quadrature

The essence of the differential quadrature is that the derivative of a function with respect to a
space variable at a given point is approximated by a weighted linear summation of the function
values at all discrete points in the domain. Therefore, the approximation of a derivative at a node
in spline-based differential quadrature is given by
X
N
ðnÞ
Dn ff ðxÞgi ¼ Cij f ðxj Þ;
j¼0

i; j ¼ 0; 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3; N  1=3; N ; ð15Þ

where Dn is a differential operator of order n, the subscript i indicates the value of Dn ff ðxÞg at
ðnÞ
node xi , Cij the weighting coefficients related to the function values f ðxj Þ. After all weighting
coefficients are determined, a differential equation can be recast into a set of algebraic equations.
In spline-based differential quadrature method, it is required that Eq. (15) be exactly satisfied
when function f ðxÞ takes the cardinal spline basis functions Xj ðxÞ. Consequently, all weighting
coefficients can be given in explicit forms
ðnÞ ðnÞ
Cij ¼ Xj ðxi Þ; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4;
i; j ¼ 0; 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3; N  1=3; N : ð16Þ
The localized non-zero nature of the splines results in banded weighting coefficient matrices for
derivatives. Meanwhile, it is noted that the following relationships among weighting coefficients
exist
ðnÞ ðnÞ
Cij ¼ ð1Þn CðNiÞðN jÞ ; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4;
i; j ¼ 0; 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3; N  1=3; N : ð17Þ
360 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

4. Numerical examples

4.1. Example 1

In this example, a simply supported isotropic circular plate under uniformly distributed load over
a concentric circle is studied (see Fig. 4). Unless the domain decomposition technique is incorpo-
rated in the differential quadrature analysis of the problem, the implementation of the conventional
differential quadrature yields no meaningful results regardless of the order of approximation. The
governing differential equation in terms of the deflection is given as follows based on Kirchhoff
theory [11]

d4 w 2 d3 w 1 d2 w 1 dw qðrÞ q0 for 0 6 r 6 b;
þ  2 2þ 3 ¼ ; qðrÞ ¼ ð18Þ
dr 4 r dr 3 r dr r dr D 0 for b 6 r 6 a;
where D is the flexural rigidity of the plate. The radial and the hoop bending moments are given
by
 2   
d w m dw 1 dw d2 w
Mr ¼ D þ ; Mh ¼ D þm 2 : ð19Þ
dr2 r dr r dr dr
The boundary conditions for Eq. (18) are
8
>
>
> dw d3 w
< ¼ 3 ¼ 0 for r ¼ 0;
dr dr
ð20Þ
>
> 2
d w m dw
>
:w ¼ þ ¼ 0 for r ¼ a:
dr2 r dr

The exact solution of Eq. (18) is

q0 r4 q0 b2 r2 a 1 1  m b2 q0 b2 3 þ m 2 a 7 þ 3m 2
wðrÞ ¼  ln þ  2
þ a  b2 ln  b
64D 8D b 1 þ m 4ð1 þ mÞ a 16D 1 þ m b 4ð1 þ mÞ
for 0 6 r 6 b;
q0 b4 r q0 b2 r2 r 3þm 1  m b2 q0 b2 3 þ m 2 1m 2
¼ ln þ ln  þ 2
þ a  b
16D a 8D a 2ð1 þ mÞ 4ð1 þ mÞ a 16D 1 þ m 2ð1 þ mÞ
for b 6 r 6 a:
ð21Þ

2b
2a

Fig. 4. Circular plate under concentric uniform compression.

 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366 361

Applying the spline-based differential quadrature rule to Eq. (18) and invoking the boundary
conditions at the two ends of the domain (the center and the edge of the plate) result in a set of
algebraic equations
X
N
ð1Þ
X
N
ð3Þ
X
N
ð2Þ mX N
ð1Þ
C0j wj ¼ C0j wj ¼ CNj wj þ C wj ¼ WN ¼ 0;
j¼0 j¼0 j¼0
a j¼0 Nj

1 X
N
ð4Þ 2 X
N
ð3Þ 1 X N
ð2Þ 1 X N
ð1Þ qi
Cij wj þ 3 Cij wj  2 2 C wj þ 3 C wj ¼ ; ð22Þ
a4 j¼0
a ri j¼0
a ri j¼0 ij ari j¼0 ij D
i ¼ 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3;
j ¼ 0; 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3; N  1=3; N:
Taking account of the load discontinuity, two loading schemes are chosen for odd and even N ,
respectively. The assignments of distributed load values at the nodes near the load periphery
(r ¼ b) are shown in Fig. 5. With the solution of Eq. (22), deflection and derivatives of the
deflection at any position can be obtained using the spline interpolation formula (13). The
computed deflections and bending moments at some selected points are listed in Tables 2 and 3. In
the two tables, the following non-dimensional parameters are introduced:
wD Mr
 ¼ 4  102 ;
w M r ¼ 2  10: ð23Þ
qa qa
It is observed that satisfactory results (i.e., error 6 1%) are achieved when N is increased to
about 50 and excellent agreement with the exact solution is reached when N exceeds 100. Very

Load periphery Load periphery

r =b r =b
h h h h h h h

q = q0 q = q0 q=0 q=0 q = q0 q = q0 q = q0 2 q = 0 q=0

N –3 N –1 N +1 N +3 N N N N N
( – 3) ( – 1) ( + 1) ( + 3)
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

(a) N is an odd number (b) N is an even number

Fig. 5. Assignment of loads at nodes near the load periphery in Example 1.

Table 2
Deflections at selected points in the first example (b=a ¼ 0:5)
r=a Exact N

w 11 12 20 21 50 51 100 101 200 201
0 3.1021 3.2193 3.2129 3.1695 3.1650 3.1151 3.1146 3.1054 3.1054 3.1030 3.1030
0.25 2.8292 2.9441 2.9380 2.8952 2.8907 2.8419 2.8414 2.8324 2.8324 2.8300 2.8300
0.5 2.0836 2.1882 2.1834 2.1440 2.1396 2.0954 2.0949 2.0866 2.0866 2.0844 2.0843
0.75 1.0711 1.1363 1.1337 1.1087 1.1058 1.0784 1.0781 1.0730 1.0730 1.0717 1.0716
1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
362 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

Table 3
Bending moments at selected points in the first example (b=a ¼ 0:5)
r=a Exact N
Mr 11 12 20 21 50 51 100 101 200 201
0 1.1608 1.1686 1.1675 1.1664 1.1665 1.1619 1.1619 1.1611 1.1611 1.1609 1.1609
0.25 1.0319 1.0439 1.0423 1.0386 1.0386 1.0330 1.0330 1.0322 1.0322 1.0320 1.0320
0.5 0.6452 0.7028 0.7006 0.6797 0.6772 0.6533 0.6529 0.6475 0.6475 0.6458 0.6458
0.75 0.2550 0.3077 0.3064 0.2840 0.2811 0.2598 0.2594 0.2561 0.2561 0.2553 0.2553
1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Table 4
Bending moments at selected points (b=a ¼ 1:0)
r=a Exact N
Mr 10 11 12 100 500
0 2.0625 2.0614 2.0625 2.0625 2.0625 2.0628
0.25 1.9336 1.9301 1.9336 1.9336 1.9336 1.9339
0.5 1.5469 1.5469 1.5469 1.5469 1.5469 1.5471
0.75 0.9023 0.9023 0.9023 0.9023 0.9023 0.9025
1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0

large numbers of nodes, 500 and 1000 say, have also been used to demonstrate the stability of the
method. It is found that the spline-based differential quadrature is very stable in comparison with
the conventional differential quadrature whose grid point number is usually restricted to below 30.
This example demonstrates that the spline-based differential quadrature is versatile and applicable
to problems where the ordinary differential quadrature runs into difficulties. In the simple case of
b=a ¼ 1:0, i.e., the uniformly distributed load is applied to the entire circular plate, rapid con-
vergence is attained with rather less nodes. The exact solution of the deflection is reproduced with
N ¼ 10. This fact is not surprising since the exact solution is a polynomial of order 4 (see Eq. (21)
for b=a ¼ 1:0). From the construction of the quintic B-spline-based differential quadrature, it is
readily recognized that N ¼ 11 is usually the minimum node number taken in analysis to ensure
the continuity of derivatives. Smaller numbers of N might result in loss of accuracy of the
solution, especially for the derivatives as seen in the case of N ¼ 10 (see Table 4). On the other
hand, caution against round-off errors should be exercised when very large number of nodes,
N ¼ 500, say, is used. In comparison with the ordinary differential quadrature analysis which only
requires five uniformly spaced grid points to deal with the case of b=a ¼ 1:0, the efficiency of the
spline-based differential quadrature is low. Nevertheless, this does not detract much from the
usefulness of the method, for it can cope with problems for which the ordinary differential
quadrature is incapable.

4.2. Example 2

To further demonstrate the robustness and the capability of the spline-based differential
quadrature, the buckling problem of a rectangular thin plate under unidirectional compression is
 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366 363

Nx
Nx

b
x

Fig. 6. Simply supported rectangular plate under unidirectional compression.

investigated (see Fig. 6). The four edges of the plate are assumed to be simply supported. The
problem has been studied using the conventional differential quadrature method. It was reported
that the critical load could only be found when the aspect ratio of plate a=b is not larger than 2.4
[7]. The reason lies in the fact that the interpolation functions used in the conventional differential
quadrature cannot represent accurately the severely wavy buckling mode of rectangular plates
with large aspect ratios. The governing equation is given as [12] for the Kirchhoff theory
o4 w o4 w o4 w Nx o2 w
þ 2 þ ¼  ; ð24Þ
ox4 ox2 oy 2 oy 4 D ox2
where Nx denotes the axial compressive force (see Fig. 6). The simply supported boundary con-
ditions of the plate are prescribed as
wðx; 0Þ ¼ wðx; bÞ ¼ wð0; yÞ ¼ wða; yÞ ¼ 0; ð25aÞ

o2 w o2 w o2 w o2 w
¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ 0: ð25bÞ
oy 2 ðx;0Þ oy 2 ðx;bÞ ox2 ð0;yÞ ox2 ða;yÞ
ðnÞ
Let M þ 1 be the number of integer nodes chosen in direction y and C ij be the weighting
coefficients in direction y. With the differential quadrature rule, Eq. (24) can be recast into the
following algebraic form:
 2 " X N 2 XM XN 4 XM
#
XN
1 b ð4Þ a ð2Þ ð2Þ a ð4Þ ð2Þ
Cik wkj þ 2 C jm C ik w km þ C jk w ik ¼ k Cik wkj ;
p2 a k¼0
b m¼0 k¼0
b k¼0 k¼0

i; j ¼ 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3; ð26Þ

where the commonly used non-dimensional load parameter is introduced as

Nx b 2
k¼ : ð27Þ
p2 D
The implementation of the spline-based differential quadrature analog to the boundary con-
ditions in Eq. (25b) in combination with Eq. (25a) leads to
364 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

w0j ¼ wNj ¼ wi0 ¼ wiN ¼ 0;

XN
ð2Þ
XN
ð2Þ
X
M
ð2Þ X
M
ð2Þ
C0k wkj ¼ CNk wkj ¼ C 0k wik ¼ C Nk wik ¼ 0;
k¼0 k¼0 k¼0 k¼0 ð28Þ
i ¼ 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; N  2; N  4=3; N  1; N  2=3; N  1=3;
j ¼ 0; 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; M  2; M  4=3; M  1; M  2=3; M  1=3; M:
Combining all the equations in (26) and (28), a generalized algebraic eigenvalue problem with
ðN þ 7Þ  ðM þ 7Þ unknowns is formed and expressed in Eq. (29)
½Afwg ¼ k½Bfwg: ð29Þ
The eigenvalues are extracted using a QZ program [13]. First, the commonly used benchmark
problem––a simply supported square plate (a=b ¼ 1) under unidirectional compression is inves-
tigated. For convenience the same numbers of nodes are used in the two directions, i.e., M ¼ N .
The relative error of the critical load is defined as
jk  kexact j
relative error ¼  100%; ð30Þ
kexact
where kexact ¼ 4:0 [12]. The computed results and those obtained using the conventional differ-
ential quadrature method are shown in Fig. 7.
It is noted that the acceptable results (i.e., error 6 5%) are gained when N is larger than 20. The
increase of the number of nodes in the two directions enhances the accuracy of the solution
significantly. It is seen that excellent agreement with the exact solution is reached when N is in-
creased to about 40. In the finite element analysis of the same problem using four-node rectan-
gular plate element with 12 degree of freedoms or three-node triangular plate element with nine
degree of freedoms [14], results with relative error less than 4% were obtained with 243 unknown
quantities. This implies that the convergence rate of the spline-based differential quadrature is
slower than that of the standard finite element method as well as the conventional differential

Fig. 7. Relative error of critical load versus number of nodes in one direction of square plate.
 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366 365

Fig. 8. Convergence study of the SDQM in buckling analysis of rectangular plate (a=b ¼ 5:0).

quadrature method. Nevertheless, the spline based differential quadrature method has overcome
the deterioration of high order approximation solution associated with the conventional differ-
ential quadrature method and removed the restriction on the order of approximation N. The
order of approximation N is usually less than 18 for conventional differential quadrature method
with uniformly spaced nodes. This is due to the severe oscillations of high order Lagrangian
interpolation functions which are used to determine weighting coefficients in the conventional
differential quadrature method. In contrast, monotonic and stable convergence is achievable using
the spline-based differential quadrature.
To exploit the advantages of the spline-based differential quadrature and the conventional
differential quadrature, the two methods are implemented in the x and y directions respectively of
a rectangular plate with a large aspect ratio a=b ¼ 5:0. The spline-based differential quadrature is
employed in the x direction and the conventional differential quadrature is used in the y-direction.
Hence the grid designation in direction y of the rectangular plate is j ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; M 0 in lieu of
j ¼ 0; 1=3; 2=3; 1; 4=3; 2; . . . ; M  2; M  4=3; M  1; M  2=3; M  1=3; M:
The numerical results of the rectangular plate for M 0 ¼ 7 and M 0 ¼ 11 are displayed in Fig. 8.
The computed results in the case of M 0 ¼ 15 were also obtained but not shown here since they
almost coincide with those of the case M 0 ¼ 11. It is seen that the spline-based differential
quadrature is capable of handling problems with severe variation of function, demonstrating
again the versatility despite its relatively low convergence rate.

5. Concluding remarks

Based on the construction of cardinal spline functions, a quintic B-spline-based differential

quadrature method is developed for fourth order differential equations. Owing to the local non-
zero property of splines, the resultant coefficient matrix of the algebraic equations is banded but
366 H. Zhong / Appl. Math. Modelling 28 (2004) 353–366

still asymmetric. The method has been demonstrated in this paper in the context of the bending
and buckling problems of the Kirchhoff plate. With the flexibility of the spline functions, sim-
plicity, straightforward implementation and ultra-stability characterize the method. In the two
examples provided, monotonic convergence of the method is observed and excellent agreements
with the theoretical solutions of the examples are reached. Although the spline-based differential
quadrature is not as efficient as the conventional differential quadrature and the commonly used
finite element method in dealing with some problems, it is justified by its versatility and stability.
Further research work is needed to enhance the efficiency of the spline-based differential quad-
rature method.

Acknowledgements

The financial support of the Fundamental Research Foundation of Tsinghua under Grant
JC2001003 is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to the anonymous reviewers who
offered valuable suggestions.

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