INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, VOL.

18,1655-1677 (1982)

EVALUATION OF A NEW QUADRILATERAL

THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT
JEAN-LOUIS BATOZ? AND MABROUK BEN TAHARS
Dipartement de Ginie Uicanique, Universite de Technofogie & Compiigne, 60206 Compiigne, France

SUMMARY
A review of 4-node, 12 degrees-of-freedom quadrilateral elements for thin plates is presented. A new
element called DKQ is discussed. The formulation is based on a generalization of the efficient and reliable
triangular element DKT presented in References 1 and 2 and on the rectangular element QC presented in
Reference 3. These elements are derived using the so-called discrete Krichhoff technique. A detailed
numerical evaluation of the behaviour of the DKQ element for the computation of displacements and
stresses for thin plate bending problems is presented and discussed. The DKQ element appears to be a
simple and reliable 12 degrees-of-freedom thin plate bending element.

INTRODUCTION
Quadrilateral elements are attractive for the discretization of plates of arbitrary shapes, of
folded plate structures and of some particular shells like cylindrical shells. The availability of
simple, efficient and reliable elements for thin plates and shells represents one of the main
characteristics of all finite element computer program libraries for structural analysis purposes.
The elements having as degrees-of-freedom (DOF) the so-called engineering degrees-of-
freedom at the corner nodes only are particularly attractive. For thin plate bending these D O F
are the normal displacement w and the rotations, i.e. 8, and 8, around the in-plane local
orthogonal axes x and y, respectively. A general quadrilateral plate bending element is shown in
Figure 1.
In two recent papers'.' a detailed formulation and numerical evaluation of a 9 D O F triangular
element called DKT, based on the discrete Krichhoff technique, was presented and discussed.
The DKT element appears to be one of the best 9 DOF elements taking into account the
following aspects:
1. Simplicity and clarity of the formulation (availability of the interpolation functions and of an
explicit formulation without numerical integration).
2. Efficiency in the evaluation of displacements as well as stresses for static problems and of
frequencies for dynamic problems.
3. Reliability of the results with respect to element aspect ratio without any aritficial or
adjustable parameter for thin and very thin plates.
The purpose of this paper is to present the formulation and the evaluation of a quadrilateral
element based on a generalization of the D K T element. The new element is called DKQ

t Professor.
t Graduate student.

0029-5981/82/111655-23$02.30 Received August 1981

@ 1982 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Revised December 1981
1656 J.-L. BATOZ AND M. B. TAHAR

(discrete Kirchhoff quadrilateral). The evaluation includes the recent assessment criteria
suggested by
The DKQ element belongs to a family of discrete Kirchhoff elements for the linear and
nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of thin plate and shell structures which is developed at
Universitt Laval, Canada and UniversitC de Compikgne, France under the guidance of
Professor Dhatt and the senior author. References 6 and 7 report some of the research results
obtained so far on the subject.
We first review the available rectangular and quadrilateral bending elements having four
nodes and the three classical D O F at each node only. Then follows the detailed formulation of
the DKQ element (interpolation functions for the normal rotations, stiffness matrix, evaluation
of bending moments). The validity and the performance of the element is demonstrated through
a series of standard tests involving one or more elements (patch test, behaviour of an element in
differential bending, convergence tests on square and rectangular thin plates, influence of
distortion). The results for typical displacements and stresses are compared with those obtained
using other 12 D O F elements. A practical problem where comparison with experimental results
is possible is also considered. More details on the results are included in a r e p ~ r t . ’ ~

REVIEW OF 12 DOF QUADRILATERAL PLATE BENDING ELEMENTS

Several textbooks and research papers published so far contain a more or less exhaustive review
of elements for plate bending analysis (see, e.g., References 8 , 9 and 10). The present review is
restricted to the rectangular and quadrilateral elements having 3 D O F at the four corner nodes
only (Figure 1).The review is also limited to the thin plate models where the numerical results

z’w I KIRCHHOFF PLATE THEORY : B

X
= v,
Y
and 0
Y
= -Y,
X

W
node 4 lox

Figure 1 . 12 DOF quadrilateral bending element

are associated with the so-called Kirchhoff-Poisson plate theory (12 D O F isoparametric
quadrilateral elements for thick plates based on the so-called Mindlin plate theory are available
and their formulation is straightforward-see References 11 and 12 among others). Since the
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1657

final D O F are conventional displacement DOF the various available models are pure dis-
placement models or hybrid (displacement or stress) type models.

Rectangular elements
The rectangular elements were the first elements for plate bending analysis. One of the first
element was that of Me10sh.I~The formulation used the analogy between a plate and a system of
crossing beams. A more important element using a complete cubic interpolation function plus
two quartic terms (of the type x 3 y and y 3 x ) , often known as the ACM is still
implanted in several computer codes. It is an incompatible element but it successfully passes the
patch test (Gallagher,a ref. 12.13, and Olson’’). Other polynomial expressions have been
proposed by Dawe (Gallagher,’ ref. 12.9). A compatible but incomplete element was presented
in References 20 and 18. A compatible rectangular element involving particular polynomial
expressions on four subregions has been presented by Deak and Pian.”
Various 12 D O F rectangular elements have been proposed by Kikuchi and Ando” based on
their simplified hybrid displacement functional. For the problems considered in Reference 22, a
better convergence compared with the ACM element is reported. The paper by Mang and
Gallagher,23 however, questions the reliability of the numerical results obtained with that
simplified functional.
Several rectangular elements based on the hybrid stress functional have been presented by
Pian,24*25 Severn and Taylorz6and Neale et They differ by the number of internal stress
parameters considered.
A rectangular element called QC was presented by Dhatt.3 It is based on the introduction of
the Kirchhoff assumptions on a discrete manner. The present DKQ element is a generalization
of the QC element (with a different presentation). A rectangular element using discrete
Kirchhoff assumptions was also studied by Fried,28where the transverse shear strain energy was
not neglected (in QC it is neglected). The behaviour of the element greatly depends on the value
of an adjustable parameter related to the thickness to element length ratio.

Quadrilateral elements
A 12 D O F quadrilateral displacement element using a single polynomial expansion with a C’
continuity for w does not exist. Quadrilateral elements can be defined through the assemblage of
several triangular elements. If more than two subregions are considered, static condensation is
used to define the 12 D O F element. Element Q l 5 in the SAP429computer program results in
the assemblage of four HCT,18 9 DOF triangular elements. Element Q1930is the result of the
assemblage of four LCCT-11 triangular elements. Q l 5 and Q19 are compatible elements, but
their formulation is not simple. Their performances appear in a later section of this paper.
Quadrilateral elements based on hybrid stress models have been presented by Allwood and
C o r n e ~ , ~and
’ Torbe and Church.32 H ~ r r i g m o e ~ uses
~ . ’ ~the element with a linear internal
moment distribution for the nonlinear analysis of shells. A great variety of 12 D O F hybrid stress
elements has been also presented and discussed by C ~ o k . ~ ’ -The~ ’ elements are often obtained
through the assemblage of triangular elements and static condensation. The arguments pre-
sented in the various papers may question the reliability of the elements for thin arbitrary plate
situations.
The difficulty in deriving satisfactory 12 D O F quadrilateral element for thin plates is mainly
due to the Kirchhoff plate theory where a C’ continuity is required for the independent
displacement w. One may consider the Mindlin plate theory where a C o continuity for the
displacement w and the rotations 8, and 8, is only required if the convergence for thin plate
1658 J.-L. BATOZ A N D M. B. TAHAR

situations is guaranteed. A 12 DOF quadrilateral element based on the Mindlin plate theory has
been presented and tested by several authors like Hughes et ~ f . , ” and , ~ ~Hinton et al.12.41.42
Bilinear interpolation functions are considered for w, 8, and 8,. Difficulties to obtain accurate
results using this low order element for thin plate analysis are due to the fact that the terms of the
stiffness matrix associated with the transverse shear energy is of order O((l/h)2)compared to the
terms associated with the bending energy (where 1 is a characteristic length of the element and h
is the thickness). For the problems considered in References 11, 12 and 41-43, reduced
integration of the transverse shear strain energy leads to a good behaviour of the element for
thickness to length ratios up to lo4.The formulation of the element is very simple; however, we
note that
1. A modification to the standard formulation is required to ensure correct convergence for
very thin plate.”
2. Two spurious zero energy modes per element exist.
3. The results of some assessment tests presented in References 4 and 5 are not satisfactory.
‘4. The element is very sensitive to element aspect ratio (distortion).’*
The QUAD4 element by M ~ N e a l is~ an ~ ,isoparametric
~ ~ 12 D O F quadrilateral element
including transverse shear. The standard element is then modified using appropriate reduced
and selective integration, and addition of special terms to improve the behaviour in bending.
The formulation does not appear to be very simple and the results are dependent upon the value
of an adjustable parameter. Good convergence behaviour is reported for square and rectangular
plates.
The LORA element presented by Robinson and Haggenma~her,~.’ is a 9 stress parameters
element (four for M, and M , and one for M x y )The
. detailed derivation of the stiffness matrix is
not given in Reference 4. The formulation is followed by the presentation of various results
dealing with assessment criteria and standard tests. In general, a good behaviour of the element
is reported. These results are compared with those obtained using DKQ in a later section.
The elements proposed by C ~ o k , ~ ’ -Hughes
~’ et ~ f . , ” * ’ *M
. ~~~N e a l ~ and
~ . ~Robinson
’ and
Haggenma~her~.’ should work for thick plates since they account for transverse shear defor-
mation. However, the element proposed in this paper will not give the correct answer for thick
plates since the transverse shear energy is neglected.

FORMULATION OF T H E DKQ ELEMENT

The discrete Kirchhoff technique which was applied successfully to derive the triangular 9 D O F
element DKT is considered to formulate the stiffness matrix of the new quadrilateral 12 D O F
element (called DKQ). The basic arguments and formulative aspects pertaining to DKQ are
given in the next section which obviously present similarities with the presentation given in
Reference 1.

Stiffnessmatrix of the DKQ element

The formulation of the DKT and DKQ elements is based on the discretization of the strain
energy where the transverse shear strain energy is neglected, i.e.

U = 1 LJ: with U: = 5 ( , y ) [ D b ]dx

{ ~dy
}
e
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1659

LJ; is the element strain energy due to bending. A' is the element area. {x} and [Db](for a
homogeneous isotropic plate) are given, respectively, by

E, v and h are the Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and thickness, respectively. P, and P, are
the rotations of the normal to the undeformed middle surface in the x-z and y-z planes,
respectively. lJ; depends only upon Px and Py with a Co continuity required.
It is necessary to relate the rotations PX and PY to the transverse displacement w in such a way
that the final element has the characteristics of a Kirchhoff type element, i.e.
(a) the nodal variables must be the displacement w and its derivatives 6, = w,, and OY = - w,,
with respect to x and y at the four corner nodes (with w,, standing for a w l a x ) ;
(b) the Kirchhoff assumptions must be verified along the boundaries of the element in order to
satisfy the Kirchhoff boundary conditions.
The formulation of the DKQ element is thus based on the following considerations:
1. 0, and Py are defined by incomplete cubic polynomial expressions:
8 8
P x = C
i=l
NiPxi P y = C NP,
i=l

The shape functions N i ( &q),i = 1 , 8 where and q are parametric c o - ~ r d i n a t e sare

~ ' ~those
~ of
the 8-node Serendipity element.g Ox, and fly,are transitory nodal variables affected at the corner
and mid-nodes of the quadrilateral element (with straight sides) (Figure 2).
2. The Kirchhoff assumptions are introduced
(a) at the corner nodes:

(b) at the mid-nodes:

PSk+ w,sk= 0 k =5,6,7,8

where s represents the co-ordinate along the element boundary.

3. w,skis the derivative of the transverse displacement w with respect to s at the mid-node k,
where w is defined by a cubic expression along each element side, i.e.

where k = 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 is the mid-node of the sides ij = 12,23,34,41, respectively. lii represents the
length of the side ij (Figure 2).
4. On varies linearly along the sides, i.e.

Pnk =3 P n i +Oni) = -+(w,nz + w,ni) (7)

where k = 5 , 6 , 7, 8 corresponds to the mid-node of the sides 12, 23, 34,41.
We note that
(a) w is not defined in the interior of the element. w varies independently along the element
sides. The nodal variable w at the four corner nodes appears through equation (6).
1660 I.-L. BATOZ AND M. B. TAHAR

ai, = al-a,
i 1,2.3.4 et j 2,3,4,1
Yij = Yi-Yj
I,,= (x: +yi; )"2 i j = 12,23,34,41
7 . . = ( x , n .' 1. )
11
c = cos yij = - Yij/ti
s = sin 7 . - =
II
"lul..
11

Figure 2 . Geometry of the DKQ element

(b) The Kirchhoff assumptions are satisfied along the entire boundary of the element since w,,
and PS are both quadratic expressions along the element sides.
(c) Convergence towards the theory of thin plates is obtained for any element length to
thickness ratio since the transverse shear energy is neglected (thus the DKQ element is not
appropriate for thick plates but other simple elements exist for such situations).
(d) The classical beam bending element with two nodes and 4 DOF is obtained if nodes 4 and 3
are eliminated.
(e) The theoretical studies on error estimates and convergence properties, as established by
K i k u ~ hand are valid for the DKQ element. The error in the evaluation of U: is
i ~ ~Fried,28748
of order 0 ( l 2 ) .
(f) The 12 DOF DKQ elements are such that w, w , ~Ox, , p, and w,, are compatible along the
element sides.
The explicit expression of the rotations px and P, of a general quadrilateral in terms of the
final DKQ nodal variables:
( u , ) = ( w l ex, eyI w 2 ex, e,, w 3 ex, ey3 w4 ex, e,,) (8)
with ex,= w,,,and eyi= - w , ~ ,i = 1, 2, 3, 4 is obtained using equations (3)-(8):
P x = W ( 5 , V)){ufl) (9a)
B y = (HY(5,
VN{Ufl} (9b)
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1661

with

H: =-bsNs-bsN~=-H;
The functions H;, H i , H i , H i , H:, H i are obtained from the above expressions by replacing
N1 by N2 and indices 8 and 5 by 5 and 6, respectively. The functions H;, H i , HG, H:, H i , H ;
are obtained from the above expressions by replacing N 1 by N3 and indices 8 and 5 by 6 and 7,
respectively. The functions H;o, H ; ] , H;2, HYo, H y l , HT2 are obtained from the above
expressions by replacing N l by N4 and indices 8 and 5 by 7 and 8, respectively.
a k = - iX i j b -2 2
k - 4xijYij/lij
lij

with k = 5, 6, 7, 8 for the sides ij = 12, 23, 34, 41, where x,, = x I -x, and y o = y , - y , and
yi.
I t = xt, + Details in obtaining ( H ' ) are presented in Appendix I.
Equations (2) and (9) give
1x1 = [BI{U"I
with

[Bl= [ (H',,)
(HY,,)
( H X ,+
y HY,,)
] =[ i l I(H',E)+i12(HX,,,)
i 2 1 ( H ' , E )+i 2 2 W ',,,)

i l l W y , d + I ' I Z ( H ~ , , , > + ~ ~ ~ ( H ~ , ~ ) + ~ ~ ~ ( H ~ , , , )

where i l l , j 1 2 , j 2 1 , j 2 2 are the components of the inverse of the Jacobian matrix [ J ] of the
transformation between the parent and the actual element.46

(14)

We then have
1 -1
ill =- J22 i12=- J12
det [ J ] det [J]
-1 1
121 = -5 2 1 j22=- 522
det [ J ] det [ J ]
1662 J.-L. BATOZ AND M. 8. TAHAR

The components of (H"m,),(H",,),(H',,) and (H',,) can easily be expressed in terms of Ni,[
and Ni,,.
The stiffness matrix of the DKQ element is defined in a standard manner for displacement
models as

A standard numerical integration scheme using 2 x 2 Gauss integration points have been
found sufficient for the integration. It has been checked that only three zero energy modes per
element are obtained for square and distorted elements and for length 1 to thickness h ratios
ranging from 50 to lo6 and using the 2 x 2 integration points. A 3 x 3 points scheme is
theoretically necessary to integrate exactly on a rectangular element. The 2 x 2 scheme should
not be understood here as a reduced integration scheme as proposed in several formulations to
improve the element behaviours-see References 12,42 and 43 among others.

Evaluation of bending moments and load vector for uniform loading

Once the 12 nodal displacements { U"}are known, the bending moments { M }at any point x, y
in the element are obtained: using equations (Sa) and (18):

In general, different values of bending moments are obtained along the element sides.
The external potential energy for a uniform loading of intensity pz over an element is defined
as

No interpolation function for w has been introduced for the derivation of the stiffness matrix.
One can define a simple load vector {f : } by considering a linear interpolation for w over the
element. For rectangular elements this gives
A' A' A' A'
(f3=j& 0 0 -0 0 -0 0 -
4
4 0 0)
4
where A' is the area of the element. In the case of a linear interpolation function, the error in the
evaluation of potential energy and strain energy will be of the same order, i.e. 0 ( l 2 )Once
. can also
consider a cubic interpolation function for w to define a more complete load vector { f : } . A cubic
interpolation for w is more consistent with the derivation of the stiffness matrix since a cubic
variation of w along the sides has been considered. The cubic polynomial will be, in fact, a
complete cubic expansion plus the terms g3q and q35 in parametric co-ordinates. For a general
quadrilateral a numerical integration is performed to obtain either {f : } or { f : } .
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1663

ASSESSMENT TESTS A N D COMPARATIVE RESULTS

In this section a presentation of the results of several classical and practical tests is proposed, The
results are compared with most of the results the authors were able to extract from the literature
and dealing exclusively with 12 D O F plate bending elements. Additional results are given in
Reference 53. The subroutines associated with the DKQ element were made compatible with
the use of the MEF46 computer program and the computations were performed in double
precision on a DEC-VAX 11/780 machine.

Patch test
Following the suggestions of Robinson4” for the evaluation of low order plate bending
elements, the patch test problem as defined in Figure 3 is considered. Five DKQ elements are
assembled and subjected to a set of concentrated load and boundary conditions that lead
theoretically to a uniform constant state of stresses on the rectangular plate. For various values
of Poisson’s ratio and positions of nodes 3, 4, 5 , 6, M,, M y and M x yare found equal to unity
everywhere on the plate. This confirms the compatibility of the DKQ element. The problem
considered in Reference 1, § 4.2.2, figure 16, is a special patch test problem and is also solved
with success for various meshes involving the DKQ elements.53

’t
=2

-*
X

Boundary
conditions: w = 0 at nodes 1, 2, 7
Loading: M, = b at nodes 2 , 8
M, =: -b at nodes 1 . 7
M y = a at nodes 1 , 2
Mu= -a at nodes 7 , 8
P, = -2 at nodes 8
Results: M, =My= Mry
= 1 everywhere
(for a = 20, b = 10, E = 1000, h = 1, wg = 12.48 with
Y = 0.3 and w g = 9.6 for Y = 0)

Figure 3. Patch test problem

1664 J.-L. BATOZ AND M. B. TAHAR

42

36

30

24 - ~~0.25
c)

0 h = 0.05
x
3
18

12

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 1 2 1 3
L
Figure 4. Performances of various elements for test A

Figure 5. Performances of various elements for test B

 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELtMENT 1665

t’

REFERENCES
EIXMENT (Formulation SIGN SHAPE HODEL
or results)
-
LOU 4, 5 0 Quad. equilibrium (hybrid)

QUAD4 4 4 , 4 5 , 4, 5 n Quad. displacement

QUS4 11, 12, 4 , 5 Quad. displacement

QDPLT 4, 5 v Quad. displacement*

( 4 triangles)

DKT this study Quad. displacement

QC 3 rn Rec t. displacement

DP 21 Rect . displacement
( 4 triangles)

PIAN 2 4 , 2 5 , 4. 5 A Rect. hybrid stress

H5, H9, (HTC) 37. 35. 36 (3 Quad. hybrid stress

( 4 triangles)

ACH 1 4 , 18, 5 1 A Rect. displacement*

Y 1 5 , 30, 5 1 V Rec t . displacement*

KQO 52 Quad. displacement

KA (R2) 22 * Rec t . hybrid displacement

Ql9 30. 5 1 0 Quad. displacement

( 4 triangles)

HCR 27 Rect. hybrid stress

AC9, AC27 31 Quad. hybrid stress

-
ion compatible

Figure 6. 12 DOF rectangular and quadrilateral elements

Cantilever rectangular plate under twisting loads

Two simple problems involving a single element are proposed by Robinson4” to assess the
plate bending elements in a situation of differential bending. A single element is clamped along
one side (Figures 4 and 5 ) . The data are: width = 1, h = 0.05,E = lo’, v = 0-25. Two sets of
concentrated loads are considered. In test A, two concentrated loads in opposite directions
along z are applied at the two free nodes. The problems consist in evaluating the value of w at a
1666 J.-L. BATOZ A N D M. B. TAHAR

free node in terms of the increasing length L of the element. In test B, two twisting couples
( M y= 1) are applied at the free corner nodes.
The results obtained using DKQ are reported in Figures 4 and 5 . The results using Q15 (four
HCTelementsl'in SAP429)and Q19 (four LCCT-11 elements3' in SAP 649)were also obtained
and are reported. The reference values associated with the Kirchhoff thin plate theory is
obtained using 16 compatible rectangular elements with 16 DOF2' and are taken from

20

t
1

3"
15

10

5
I -- *

I ,

.5
t o
5
.\' -5

- 10
I
I

- I5 A
I 7 9 I
N

Figure 7. Clamped plate ( b / a = 1). Concentrated load; central displacement

References 4 and 5. The results reported in Figures 4 and 5 dealing with the rectangular
elements PIAN,24.25ACM (STIFF43-ANSYS)'4''6"Band R16" and the quadrilateral elements
'
LORA,' QUAD4-MSC/NASTRAN,44 QUS4-ASAS,' and QDPLT-NASTRAN are taken
directly from References 4 and 5.
It can be observed that the DKQ element like the DKT element2 has an expremely good
behaviour for the element aspect ratios considered. It performs better than the recent elements
QUS4, LORA and QUAD4.
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1667

Evaluation of displacements and stresses for rectangular plates

Square and rectangular clamped and simply-supported plates with aspect ratios of 1 , 2 and 3
and subjected to a concentrated central load and a uniform loading are analysed using the DKQ
elements. Regular meshes on a quarter-plate with N = 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and 8 elements per mid-side are
considered (Figure 6). The results (displacement w at the centre and stresses at various

-20 b-
I3 L 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0
N

Figure 8. Simply-supported plate ( b / a = 1). Concentrated load; central displacement

locations) are compared with different results taken from a great number of papers and involving
rectangular and quadrilateral elements with 12 DOF only (Figure 6). The reference solutions
are taken from Reference 50.
Figures 7-12 deal with the percentage of error on the central displacement versus the number
of elements per mid-side for the various geometries, loading and boundary conditions. Figures
1668 J.-L. BATOZ AND M. B. TAHAR

13-16 deal with the percentage of error on some significant bending M,, M y or twisting
moments M,, (corner reaction).
The convergence rates obtained with DKQ for the central displacement are, in general, less
good than those reported for QUAD4 or LORA and, in general, no monotonic convergence is
observed for these three elements. We note, however, that the convergence rate does not
deteriorate with increasing aspect ratio (Figures 11 and 12).

I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910
N

Figure 9. Clamped square plate. Uniform loading; central displacement

Not many papers include results dealing with the evaluation of stresses, even if they present
equilibrium or hybrid stress elements. The stress results obtained with DKQ and reported in
Figures 14-17 and in Reference 53 are found satisfactory. They have been computed directly at
the corner nodes.
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1669

1
I -
--

i
I
I I
2
I
3 4
I
5 6 7 8 910
N

Figure 10. Simply-supported square plate. Uniform loading; central displacement

Analysis of a curved slab

The last example presented here deals with the analysis of a circular slab simply supported
along two straight sides and free along the two curved sides. The data are given in Figure 18.This
problem was considered by Coull and D ~ s , who’ ~ presented analytical and experimental results,
and Allwood and C ~ r n e s , ~ ’ analysed the plate with 12 D O F hybrid stress quadrilateral
who
elements. The plate is subjected to a concentrated load on the symmetry plane but at three
different locations (Figure 18).

Figure 1 1 . Simply-supported plate with uniform loading. Influence of aspect ratio b / a

1670 J.-L.BATOZ AND M. €3. TAHAR

40

30

3"
:. 20

0
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0
N

Figure 12. Clamped plate with uniform loading. Influence of aspect ratio b / a

20

10

8
0
.B
L
3
u-10
'\.
- 20
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910
N

Figure 13. Clamped plate. Concentrated load; error in M, at mid-side

I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910
N
Figure 14. Simply-supported plate. Concentrated load; error in corner reaction
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 167 1

Figure 15. Clamped square plate. Uniform loading; error in bending moment at centre

Half of the plate was discretized, as in Reference 31, in 30 regular elements. Figures 19 and 20
deal with the variation of normal displacement and bending moments M, and M, between the
ABC line, respectively, for the three positions of the load. The results obtained using the DKQ
elements are in good agreement with the experimental results for the three loading cases with
greater differences for the stresses than for the displacements. Results using DKQ and hybrid
stress elements31 are almost identical.

CONCLUSION
In this paper, the details of the formulation of a new quadrilateral 12 DOF element for the
bending analysis of thin plates are presented. The element is obtained by generalizing the
method used to derive a 9 D O F triangular element called DKT in References 1 and 2. Both

- I5

Figure 16. Clamped plate. Uniform loading; error in bending moment at mid-side
1672 J.-L. BATOZ A N D M. B. TAHAR

D i f f e r e n c e i n wc f o r i r r e o u l a r mesh
..-.
compared t o r e o u l a r mesh
regular irregular
-

C SIMPLY SUPPORTED PLATE

E! - uniform loading
DKQ* :

CLAMP E D-P-LATE
1.05 % QUS4 1121 : 32 %

- .

iii - concentrated c e n t r a l load

DKQ : 0.17 ‘x AC9 1311 : 0 . 5 fx
AC27 1311 : 0 . 7 5

- concentrated c e n t r a l l o a d
9KQ : -0.5 ‘x OUAD4 [ 4 4 1 : 4.6 %

- uniform loading
DKQ* : 0.45 % QUAD4 1 4 4 1 : 6 . 6 X
- --. - .

Figure 17. Influence of mesh distortions on various 12 DOF elements

elements are based on the introduction of discrete Kirchhoff assumptions in a particular manner
along the elements sides. An explicit expression of the rotations of the normal in terms of the 12
D O F is given. A detailed numerical evaluation is presenteed where the results (displacements
and stresses) obtained using DKQ and many others 12 D O F elements are compared.
It is concluded that
1. The DKQ element is a compatible element without any spurious zero energy mode
2. Solutions in agreement with the Kirchhoff thin plate theory are obtained for any length to
thickness ratio but without monotonic convergence.
3. Excellent results are observed for the tests proposed by Robinson4” and involving a single
element.
4. The DKQ element is not very sensitivt to the elements distortions.
5 . Convergence rates in displacements and stresses for the square and rectangular plates are
satisfactory but are in general not as good as those reported for LORA4 and QUAD444for
the displacements.
QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1673
1674 J.-L. BATOZ AND M. B. TAHAR

0.6

t
2 0.4
4
.-
= 0.2

Figure 20. Curved slab. Bending moments along A B C

We emphasize that the construction of the stiffness matrix is direct and simple and follows the
standard procedure for isoparametric membrane displacement elements.
From our experience it is found that the DKQ element is a simple and reliable engineering
element for the analysis of thin plates of arbitrary shape.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank Professor G. Dhatt for encouragements and helpful discussions and
Professors Allwood and Coull for their precisions on the data and results dealing with the curved
slab problem.
 QUADRILATERAL THIN PLATE BENDING ELEMENT 1675

APPENDIX I: EXPLICIT INTERPOLATION FUNCTION FOR px

Let yij = y k = (x, nii>and cos y k = C k and sin y k = s k . Then

:[=I -:l{;:]k

The quadratic variation of px and equation (4) give

Equations (20) and (5) give

Equations (6) and (7) give

Using equation (20) and ( w , ~=) -Oyi

~ and ( w , ~=) O~x i :
1676 J.-L. BATOZ AND M. B. TAHAR

The above can be expressed in matrix form as follows:

with Vndefined by equation (8).

By defining

with ij = 12, 23, 34, 41 for k =5, 6, 7, 8 we obtain equation (10).

H ”I --2,NsaS - & a s

H; = Nsbs + N u b s

H; = N1- N ~ C-NUCS
S
For Hd, HZ, Hg replace 1 by 2, 5 by 6 and 8 by 5.
For H ; , H i , HG replace 1 by 3, 5 by 7 and 8 by 6.
For Hi o, H ; l , H t Z replace 1 by 4, 5 by 8 and 8 by 7

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