Method of matched sections in application to thin-walled and Mindlin rectangular plates

Abstract

The paper elaborates the principally new variant of finite element method in application to plate problem. It differs from classical FEM approach by, at least, three points. First, it uses the strong differential formulation rather than the weak one and suppose the approximate analytical solution of all differential equations. Second, it explicitly uses all geometrical and physical parameters in the procedure of solution, rather than some chosen ones, for example, displacement and angles of rotation as usually done in FEM formulation. Third, the conjugation between adjacent elements occurs between the adjacent sections rather than in polygon vertexes. These conditions require the continuity of displacements, angles, moments and forces. Each side of rectangular elements is characterized by 6 main parameters, so, at whole there are 24 parameters for each rectangular element. The right and upper sides’ parameters are considered as output ones, and they are related with lower and left sides ones by matrix equations, which allows to apply transfer matrix method for the compilation of the resulting system of equations for the whole plate. The numerical examples for the thin-walled and Mindlin plates show the high efficiency and accuracy of the method.