An Edge-Based Smoothed Finite Element Method for Analyzing Stiffened Plates

Abstract

In this paper, an edge-based smoothed finite element method with the discrete shear gap using triangular elements (ES-DSG3) is presented for static, free vibration and sound radiation analyses of plates stiffened by eccentric and concentric stiffeners. In the present model, the ES-DSG3 for the plate element with the isoparametric thick-beam element is employed to formulate stiffened plate structures. The deflections and rotations of the plates and the stiffeners are connected at tying positions. By using Rayleigh integral, sound radiation of stiffened plates subjected to a point load can be obtained. The edge-based gradient smoothing technique is employed to perform the related numerical integrations over the edge-based smoothing domains. Compared with the original DSG3 model, the present ES-DSG3 model is relatively softer as a result of the edge-based gradient smoothing technique. From several numerical examples, it is observed that the ES-DSG3 can produce more accurate numerical solutions than the original DSG3 for stiffened plates.