A volume-averaged nodal projection method for the Reissner-Mindlin plate model
For computational mechanics researchers, this provides a novel meshfree method that solves the shear-locking issue in plate problems without requiring mixed formulations.
The paper introduces a meshfree Galerkin method for Reissner-Mindlin plate problems that avoids shear-locking using a volume-averaged nodal projection operator. The method is accurate for a wide range of plate thicknesses, as demonstrated by benchmark problems.
We introduce a novel meshfree Galerkin method for the solution of Reissner-Mindlin plate problems that is written in terms of the primitive variables only (i.e., rotations and transverse displacement) and is devoid of shear-locking. The proposed approach uses linear maximum-entropy approximations and is built variationally on a two-field potential energy functional wherein the shear strain, written in terms of the primitive variables, is computed via a volume-averaged nodal projection operator that is constructed from the Kirchhoff constraint of the three-field mixed weak form. The stability of the method is rendered by adding bubble-like enrichment to the rotation degrees of freedom. Some benchmark problems are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and performance of the proposed method for a wide range of plate thicknesses.