A FE2 shell model with periodic boundary conditions for thin and thick shells

Abstract

AbstractIn this article a FE2 shell model for thin and thick shells within a first order homogenization scheme is presented. A variational formulation for the two‐scale boundary value problem and the associated finite element formulation is developed. Constraints with 5 or 9 Lagrange parameters are derived which eliminate both rigid body movements and dependencies of the shear stiffness on the size of the representative volume elements (RVEs). At the bottom and top surface of the RVEs which extend through the total thickness of the shell stress boundary conditions are present. The periodic boundary conditions at the lateral surfaces are applied in such a way that particular membrane, bending and shear modes are not restrained. This is shown by means of a homogeneous RVE. The first of all linear formulation is extended to finite strain problems introducing transformation relations for the stress resultants and the material matrix. The transformations are performed at the Gauss points on macro level. Several boundary value problems including large deformations, stability and inelasticity are computed and compared with 3D reference solutions.