A simple approach for finite element simulation of reinforced plates
This work provides a simpler and faster finite element approach for engineers designing reinforced plate structures, though it is an incremental improvement over existing methods.
The paper introduces a method for simulating reinforced plates by embedding Bernoulli beam reinforcements into Kirchhoff plates using a continuous/discontinuous finite element method with CutFEM, enabling fast assessment of support placement for optimization.
We present a new approach for adding Bernoulli beam reinforcements to Kirchhoff plates. The plate is discretised using a continuous/discontinuous finite element method based on standard continuous piecewise polynomial finite element spaces. The beams are discretised by the CutFEM technique of letting the basis functions of the plate represent also the beams which are allowed to pass through the plate elements. This allows for a fast and easy way of assessing where the plate should be supported, for instance, in an optimization loop.