Analyzing FG shells with large deformations and finite rotations

Purpose The purpose of this study is dedicated to use an efficient mixed strain finite element approach to develop a three-node triangular shell element. Moreover, large deformation analysis of the functionally graded material shells is the main contribution of this research. These target structures include thin or moderately thick panels. Design/methodology/approach Due to reach these goals, Green–Lagrange strain formulation with respect to small strains and large deformations with finite rotations is used. First, an efficient three-node triangular degenerated shell element is formulated using tensorial components of two-dimensional shell theory. Then, the variation of Young’s modulus through the thickness of shell is formulated by using power function. Note that the change of Poisson’s ratio is ignored. Finally, the governing linearized incremental relation was iteratively solved using a high potential nonlinear solution method entitled generalized displacement control. Findings Some well-known problems are solved to validate the proposed formulations. The suggested triangular shell element can obtain the exact responses of functionally graded (FG) shell structures, without any shear locking, instabilities and ill-conditioning, even by using fewer numbers of the elements. The obtained outcomes are compared with the other reference solutions. All findings demonstrate the accuracy and capability of authors’ element for analyzing FG shell structures. Research limitations/implications A mixed strain finite element approach is used for nonlinear analysis of FG shells. These structures are curved thin and moderately thick shells. Small strains and large deformations with finite rotations are assumed. Practical implications FG shells are mostly made curved thin or moderately thick, and these structures have a lot of applications in the civil and mechanical engineering. Social implications The social implication of this study is concerned with how technology impacts the world. In short, the presented scheme can improve structural analysis ways. Originality/value Developing an efficient three-node triangular element, for geometrically nonlinear analysis of FG doubly-curved thin and moderately thick shells, is the main contribution of the current research. Finite rotations are considered by using the Taylor’s expansion of the rotation matrix. Mixed interpolation of strain fields is used to alleviate the locking phenomena. Using fewer numbers of shell elements with fewer numbers of degrees of freedom can reduce the computational costs and errors significantly.

A 6-parameter triangular flat shell element for nonlinear analysis

In this paper, an improved flat triangular shell element is proposed. This element has three nodes, and in each node, six degrees of freedom are considered. Since there are three rotational degrees of freedom at each node, the drilling effect can be incorporated in authors' formulation. A new procedure is also suggested for updating the director vectors about which the rotational degrees of freedom are defined. In order to study large displacements and rotations, Total Lagrangian principles are employed. In addition, updating the rotational degrees of freedom is implemented using enriched updated director vectors, which are formulated based on the finite rotation method. On the other hand, small strains are considered in this formulation. By utilizing MITC method, shear and membrane locking is mitigated from new element. To examine the performance, the element passes three basic tests, including isotropy, and patch test. Moreover, a convergence study is also implemented to show the elemental behavior. Several popular benchmarks are considered to illustrate the accuracy and capability of the suggested element in geometrically nonlinear analyses.

Nonlinear Analysis of Twisted Wind Turbine Blade

Modal analysis is developed in this paper in order to study the dynamic characteristics of rotating segmented blades assembled with spar. Accordingly, a three dimensional finite element model was built using the three node triangular shell element DKT18, which has six degrees of freedom, to model the blade and the spar structures. This study covers the effect of rotation speed and geometrically nonlinear problems on the vibration characteristics of rotating blade with various pretwist angles. Likewise, the effect of the spar in the blade is taken into consideration. The equation of motion for the finite element model is derived by using Hamilton's principle, while the resulting nonlinear equilibrium equation is solved by applying the Newmark method combined with the Newton Raphson schema. Results show that the natural frequencies increase by taking account of the spar, they are also proportional to the angular rotation speed and influenced by geometric nonlinearity and pretwist angle.

Analysis of Tank Car Deformations Using Multibody Systems and Finite Element Algorithms

This investigation demonstrates the effect of the tank flexibility and plate thickness on the wheel/rail contact and the nonlinear dynamic behavior of railroad vehicles. To this end, a flexible tank is modeled using the finite element (FE) floating frame of reference formulation (FFR). The tank car finite element model is integrated with a three-dimensional railroad vehicle using computational non-linear multibody system (MBS) framework in which the wheel/rail interaction is formulated using a three-dimensional elastic contact formulation that allows for the wheel/rail separation. A triangular shell element is used to build the tank car and describe its deformation, The effect of the coupling between different modes of displacements is demonstrated by comparing the results of the simulations of the flexible and rigid tank car models. It is shown that there is a strong dynamic coupling between different modes of displacements of the tank car, the plate thickness, and the wheel/rail contact parameters. The effect of the flexibility and plate thickness of the tank car on the vehicle critical speed and dynamic characteristics are also examined.