An isoparametric eccentrically stiffened plate bending element

Abstract

An 8 noded, eccentrically stiffened, plate bending element is introduced. The formulation allows for any number of stiffeners arbitrarily orientated within a plate element without disturbing their individual properties and positions. This is a distinct improvement over conventional lumped stiffener modelling and equivalent orthotropic plate theory and considerably simplifies the modelling of stiffened structures. A technique is also presented which transforms stiffener positions defined in the global cartesian system to the local, isoparametric coordinates of the plate element which contains the given stiffener. Several examples are given which demonstrate the usefulness of the element.