A p p l i e d Mathematics and Mechanics Published by HUST Press

(English Edition, Vol.5, No.6, Dec. 1984) Wuhan, China

AXALYSIS' OF THIN PARALLELOGRAM PLATES' BENDING

BY SPLINE-FINITE-STRIP METHOD

M. J. Chen ( ~ { ~ )
(Associate Professor, Department of Computer
Science, Zhongshan university,
Visiting senior Research Assistant, Depart-
ment of Civil Engineering, UniverslC!~ of
Hong Kong)
L. G. Tham ( i ~ )
(Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Hong Kong)
Y.K. Cheun~ ( ~{~{~ )
(Professor and llead, Department of civil
Engineering, u~iversity of .5ong Kong)
(Received Dec. 21, 1983)

ABSTRACT

Spline finite strip has been successfully applied in

solving right plates and shells by Cheung et al in I"82.
In this paper, the method is extended to the analys~s of
parallelogram place. This extension still retains the
banded nature of the spline finite strip and only small
amount of extra compuzing effort is required. Further-
more, the discretisation error of the above method is
established theoreticall~ as a general ease for the spline
finite strip method.

I. Introduction
The finite element method [1] is one of the most ~,owerful tools for structural

analysis, however, its practical value is very much limited by its computing cost
and storage's requirement. To take advantages of the regularity it, shape of cer-
tain classes of structure, such as bridges, the finite strip method [2] was develop-
ed by Cheung in the early seventies. This semi-analytical method, which is based
on the transcandental vibrational modes for approximation, suffers from difficul-
ties when dealing with concentrated forces, multi-span and skewed plate, etc. In
order to overcome these shortcomings of the finite strip method, the spline finite
strip was devised by Cheung et al [3] in 1982. This method is, in fact, the mar-
riage of spline functions and local interpolating polynomial of standard finite
element method. Extensive numerical examples on right plates and shells were well-
documented in their paper, but the applicability of this method in the analysis of
skewed plates remains unexplored. The main theme of the present paper is to extend
1728 M.J. Chen, L.G. Tham and Y.K. Cheung

the t e c h n i q u e to p&ra].ielogram plate, and its c o n v e r g e n c e is e s t a b l i s h e d as a

general case of the spliJ~e finite s t r i p method. In fact, this t e c h n i q u e can be
easily adoLted for the .~nalysis of c u r v e d F.]ates ant~ q u a d r i ] n t e r a ] she]]s, and its
full d e t a i l s will be :!iscumsed in a f{~Tthcominq paper.

1i. Statement of Problems

We c o n s i d e r a parallelogram i:d,te s (Pig.l) :

.vi
i~y<x<k.,j+a 0<y<b ; a, b>0, /~=tgO
r" aD
r .('2,,/ D Wi~i-: L.'U~:d.~-~"f ~], where (@~)~, (8.Q)~ and
/ / (8_Q)~ den{,tes the clamped, simply-supported
~'// / 5-V .~: .! free-ed,nes r e s p e c t i v e l y , and
"/ 21
r / as L} (as
%
in the r e a l m of K i r c h h o f f ' s plate beBding,

t]:{, tet,-~l enerm\ is: ](W)= 9

-. a_x~ ) ( c)y~ ,
I
I
- +2v Ohv _
a~w +2(l--v) ( Oxat] ;} dxdy-- IIqwdxdy
t ~ t d ~:~ c3y z

FJ.'z. ! Plato
={(x, t~)lkU<L~:<kt~+a, v.here to is t]~e displs, c e m e n t function, q is
~]<y<<b}, a>O, b>O, k=tg~ the e x t e r n a l l<,adi~q, D &nd v are the

bendinq riqJdJt,: and Rc:isson's r a t i o resloectivel"/. The dis}~lacement function

must satisfy the b o u n d a r y conditi{-}ns:

am
w...~_-an-..~ 0 along (O,.O), (z.1)
~=-0 a l o n g (d.Q)2 (2.z)
and
(2.3)

or e.:iuiva!cnt] },,

Ox 2 O.W + @.v: dy ~

azw c~Zw *
+2(]-,) axay a~ay } d x d y = I ~ q w * d x d y Vw* (2.4)
D
in which w§ must 1)e e q u a l l y smooth as w and it s a t i s f i e s the b o u n d a r y conditions:

w * = -a.w-*- = 0 along (a~), (2.5)

an
~u.=0 along (a~)~ (~.6)

Ill . Coordinate Transformation and D i s c r e t i s a t i o n

Choosing the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n ,
~ = a ~ +kbn, g = b n (3.1]

the p l a t e will be mapl~ed into tile r e g i o n b=[0, l]X[0. 1] in the ~--~/ plane.

In a d d i t i o n , the r e l a t i o n s h i p between the s e c o n d derivatives of the two p l a n e s can

 Analysis o? Thin Parallelogram Plates' Bending 1729

be e,~,~;Jly est,~blished as:

0z
I
a,~
k~
0

1
0

k
21
OU
0z
(3.z)
0 uz -----

0' a~ 9 - 2' O~"

O~On

and olte can now c o n s t r u c t the i=ot,31 energl, function Jm the )~U plane fo~- [he

plate

J(m)----=2II{d a-(]-Fk ) +b~k-Orfl] +--ab ( 1 - - v + 2 k a ) ( O~Oq )~

+2 ab O~ z On ~ --~
2
for z3(~, n)=w(a~+,~2m @). The t r a n s f o r m e d boundary conditi,,]:~: ,9rr then:
(3.3)
~'=-O~ = o
(3.4)
~=o ,, ! c.,na (O-Oh

where (8~ (/=I, 2, 3) are the Jm~ages r~f (0,Q)j u n d e r ~,,

t 7

the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n (3.1). b
In the c o n t e x t of tLe s[;line striE, t]qe whole Q~

dcmaJ~ 5 is i a.rtitioned into s<rir, (Fig. 2) such

that
n- 1 ^
~ - - U ~,, ~?;=[-~,o & + j • '], &=Z I
t
in tile [;cesent a p o.. y c a c h z~(~, ~) in ~,Qj is i
t tTo

interp 9 b'z' U e r m i t e Folynomi:~l in the ~-direc- t~

v 7" C!. 2 .,,.c3 t..... ~"
cic,n and ~--3 sl<tine in the otheY d~;-e<'t~on, th,at

%
,,=, ?, h= ,i=,),

4,(,n {2}, }
oh(tO {a}-j.~ 1(35)
t_ 0

= ~'-~h h --n3

{ab=[a,,_. ..., aj .... ~V, {~}r=[~,._. "". , G , ~ . , ] r ~

N~(t)=i--3t~ q-2ts, lv~.(r)=t(1--2t+tz),
Ns( t ) = 3 t z - - 2t a, .N ~( r tz--t );
r ~o.'.~), -.., q~,~+,@)].
 1730 M.J. Chen, L.G. Tham and Y.K. Cheung

] I~'+3 ,~=(r/--~,_,)+3)(p-=r/,_,)'--3(rl--r/,_,)s r/,_,~r/~<r/,

~,(0)= -~- ^ ^
BI ~ l'~-t-31=(rh+:--rl)-t-3[(rh.~:--rl)Z--3(rh+=--~7) s rl,<rl<~<rh+,
( rl, +.. -- rl ) "~ rl, + :<rl~rl,+ :

f= I, ~,=d.
In order t,, satisfy the forced b,)und~ry conditions along the top ,Hid bot~-nf-,

~ges, the first ~i-~d last tlnee ]~ a ] s T] Jnes T.i(~) ( 3 = - - I , 0, I and ,n--l)

~b rn+l) i~a\,e to 1oe m<~di~iod a c c 9 to T a b l e I,

Table i. Hc,d i f i p d local sNline to s a t i s f y forced boundary

c~.n(:iti, i!s at q = ~ 0 ~ 0

- ~k~:-.s " <5. ] i

s L i i~,~ I - i' - -
conditlohs - ~ - I I

Free End ~_~ I ~';o " i q~

Simply Su] ved End- IE jill'-! - i ......
w (~;0]:0 ~111ateG q~ 4T-I ] q)I--q-J
i
tlamped End: L]im-i E l i m i n a t e d
w(~o)=w'(,~o;:O Ii n a t e d I - 2 ~o+~-,

and ~(77) is n o w rewritten as

~(~)=[~_,, ~o, ~,, ~,, ..., ~,_=, ~ _ , . ~., ~ . . , ]

Furthermore, the b o u n d a r f conditions for the ]eft and the Light edqes can be impos-

ed as the standard method.

Once the disLelacement functions F<~r the strip !k~ve been chosep, the strip

characteristics including stiffness, load and mass matrices can be cd]tained in

line with t].e s t a n d a r d finite element method formu]atio~.

IV. Error Estimation of Spline Finite Strip Hethoq

]~ Error of the e n e r g y norm.

The spline finite stri~, e l e m e n t enables C~ c~ n t i n u i t y by e m F ] o y i n g only two

parameters per node, and this is d e t i n i t e l y an advantage over the finite element

method. However, it is n e c e s s a r y to e s t a b l i s h the order of c o n v e r g e n c e of the m<--

thod. T ] , e followii~g proof is b a s e d on c]~mped edges })ut the p r o o f for othe~ boun-

ddrv conditions s}b~ll f o l l o w readily. We also found the p r o o f on a stronger conda-

tion so as to a v o l d the abstract Sobolev's space.

If z~(x, y ) ( C "~ and Lun,m(x,y) denote the exact and apFro:<imate solution, then

c].~4 o,~ I c]x20~/~ Jo,~ c].u4 .

 Analysis of Thin ,Parallelogram Plates' Bending 1731

]vo--w., ' O'w _ a'w _ + a'w l" )(h-t-l) (4.]b)

,, ~, <c(l.ax ~- o,~ h ' + I ax,au, ~ hl au" o , ,

(4. to)
I ~ o,~ %c( -
-Ox~ 0,, h ' + i Ox'Ovz ! , , , Or' 0 , ,
where h,~-a]{, l ~ l

a~d I'I~,~ is d e f i n e d as
9 OJq~ -,

PEOC) f : --

The e x a c t soluti<n tu(~, g) m u s t satisfy the b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s

Ozo along O.Q (4.2)

w-~ On-~O
and eq. (2.4) in f2 On the o t h e r h a n d w.,.,(V..~ also has to satisfy the

boundary conditions and

j { ~z O~,,,. OZw* O*w.,,. O~w*,,.

0 z w .~ , ~ 07.
w .... v Ozva"'~ OZw~'' }dxdy

----flqw*.,.dxdv Vw,~ ,,~(V,,.. ~,4,3]

V .... is a finite d i m e n s i o n a l space and its element_ is d e f i n e d as follows:

L = .~(:~..w)l kbt +/t~<.~<.~kbt+(j + lJh, v=bt, O<t~<l}

{see Fiq. I). Under the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n ,
t4.4)
is mapF, ed into b . Th~ inverse of transformer.ion (4.4) is r~bviously

:,-~v-/h ,~= ~_, (~,y)(f~

...... t;- "
For evel-:,,, v(:~,u)(V .....

Furthermore, t~s(.~,r;) can be w r i t t e n as

m+l

,3j(~,r;)= ~ [a,,,N,(~)+flj,,N2(~)+aj+,,~N3(~)+fIj+l,,N,(~)]qo,(n" (4.6)

t--!

It h a s now s h o ~ that v(x,y) is a p r o d u c t of H e r m J t e cubic po]vnomia] and cubic

spline. Globally, u(CJ(~2) and s a t i s f i e s the b o u n d a r y conditions:
Or___ 0 alonq O~Q (4.7)
V = On
Now let us denote cubic spline and H e r m i t e cubic p,~lynomial as Os and Os

respectively,

k/q(~), (liuq)(~) is a cubic polunomial and s a t i s f y

(O,~)(o)=qXO), (u.~)(l)=,p(t), (v,~q~)'(o)=q~'(o), (0,,~)'/l)=~'(1)

~(0), (0sVJ)(n) is a ~'ubic spline and satisfy

(vs~)(n,)= ~(~j) (/=o,1....,m), COs~)'(~,)=~'(m) (/=o,m)

Define the [:rojection of ~o(x~ y) on ~,,m by ~.,.(x, g): ~!:en (x, .y)(~i,

then
 1752 M.J. Chen, L.G. Tham and Y . K . Cheunc

2~.,m(.~:. , ) = (77~t,:)(~, (4.8)

for ~j(~, : l ) : w ( h D ; + h b r l + . i h . b:l). ~, ~ ~!~c]
^

i 7 =Oz~ O.~=t)u 0 = .
In ,:,zde~ t> ] Y o v e t];e set of inoquT:]itics (4.i) , ;,:e h L v e !-o r~'cal] the we].l-

'<nc.~,.T~ 5:~:,ite ele~~ent ffogd]ts ['' ] ,

lw-~., mi,, , ~ < C o i ~ - - ~ . , ml,, (~.9)

l+v
for c{, -- 1---p
Usi:l<! the Cauch,~ 's i?.<qu~lit'<,

O:(~-II~:) ! + [ ~ . a=(~',--17~',) O~( "&'~--[T&'j

- t?O~ ~ J L'~ .... id_O%~ - +2h bhO&]r/ " -
^

+
-- b~O~l: " _ h:O~ :~ bh6~O~ JJ
^

.bh II{(/.>;.+ 2h3 q.-3hz-~-, 2h ~ - i)[ az(~l-/j20~217/"7']

~) l~
3
+ [ ]:
+(.h'-F2/{+l)[ Oz('z?': 02
- ] 787,zTb) ]~]
^

<c(,< LOiii[[[ <Y({,:I]ST~o) /1~ ~.r 0~(7,,---#7~7)_ ] '

' J./h. i? O~~- J L h O~ &;
g
^
+[ a~(5~ - - I ~ , ) ~l< ( 4 ~05
On" ] jd,Dd~

v.'}ll.:"': :_-,([7, b) ~::, :" <r~!':-:t,=hr t-;: ; ,5m]-,<.::~]!3 ,"." h ::,~!_c:], b

^
As ][=(7~01s~.OsOa 9
,-,,,~
-
::.: .:.-::<5!.1." sh{,," thu.t i4] [5] t

., a,-' I o. , i a..i~-aS ,~, ~," ~ + a.,s' . 9 ~,

O b v i.':'a s l : . ' ,

tw-m .... i~,:<~c(/~,b) ax [ ~ D~+, o.'~-oG ~ I<,,~ l av" o,~ <~.}1)

This t.~n be corrS~ined with (4.-~ t<, :;i-,;e t{.]a) .

In c.rde] ~ to l-,~',z~\'< ( 4 . i < ) , w,.-: ]i~\,c. t.-~ c c n s i d e r the plate ~Q unc]er the loading

(~0--mn,~). T],e corresp,_~ndinq e:<act ~nd &ppr:~xtmate <(.]uti, r~.c .:~,re dcnote,] b y u(x, U)

_tr:d u~,m(x, y) Y e s ! ective]'_,.', r'~.:m t)~e dt-finJt [on u(x,~j), w,_, h a v e (e,.i. (2~ ,

ffr 0~-~ O ~ ( w -~c~. . . . ) O"-u O~(w--t,J,,,,,,)

9 Oxz

+~,[ O2u O~(v~--w . . . . ) + 0 % a~(w-vJ_ . . ._. )

a x 2- 0:4 ~ . OV 2- 3-~ 1..,
02t~, Oz('~v--tu, ,~)'1. {]xd~j (419 )
+2(!--v) OxOU - OxOV ] " "

a!~d t h e definitions of vd and it,.... (er!s. (2.4~ , (4.5)) ,

 Analysis of Thin Parallelogram Plates' Bending 1733

-{ 3 * ( u ' - w . . . . ) O*u"" 4 W(~v--w .... ) O'u.,.,

- ox ~ .... s o:- ...... ob ~ - -

r O*(w-w,,,,) Oq~. . . . O~(va-w .... ) 0 % . , ,~ ~,

+'L-- o2 .... o:'-- + - o S - -

+2(I-v) O~(w--w"'~') 0%.,., ~. . (4.13)

C cmJ~ iP,e eqs. (4.12) and (4.13), tl,en b 5 C a u c h y ' s Inequalit7

: W(u-u .... ) d~(~v-w.,,~) W(u--u.,.,) o'(w-~o, . . )
lw- w .... Ig,~= - { Ox ~ O:d + O~.,"
r

I OXu-u..,.) O~(w-w.,.,) + O~(u-u....) Offto-a,..~)

.... aa(u--u"'=) OZ(w--w""~) ].]dxdy

zt~--v) --OxOy - &~O,u --
~(~ +,,)Iw-w,, ~,1, ~ l u - u,, ,~1 ~., ,~ (4. ~ )
For l u - - u . . ,~1~, ~ , one can show that (eq. (4.11)) ,

i, ~ O'u ' i-
tu-u,..,l~,~<~c-(k.b)~,l-ax, o,o ~- I Ox~OJ " I ~ o,

~c'i-(k.b ) lw--w., ..1o, ~ ( h + g ) ~

,S.S 8 is the e x a c t selution for plate <u]der the loadins; (w--tv.,m), '.'e can

deduce
lu- u.. ,~l,. ~<-c-}(a. b) I ~ - u , . , .d o. o(h+l) "

Co~%ining the dbc~ve r e l a t i o n with (4.1:;) a n d e i l m i n a t i n c the cc,m p o n term

Ira--m"' "I0, a , we :,.rrive .~t (4.1c) .

From Green's form~.lla and C a u c h y ' s inequality,

9o 0:,. 09
D

~ / " 2-Iw-w~,, -i~ ~" i w - w ~ .1~,

< , , / ' ~ c ~ ( k , b ) lw--w. ,~ ! ~ ,,~ ( h +1) ~
which is simply the scuare of (4.1b).

2~ Maximum error norm.

U.,-~..~iio <~c:, 4 ( i , + r ) ( ~ !~xo;o~,o,

i: 04w ~. )
i, (4.J.5)
~l+n2 -4
e>0 and

a a ~ l l ) ~:Q

Pzoof:-
We first note the trlangular inequality,

It f o l l o w s fcom t)ie d e f i n i t i o n , f maximum n o r m tha~ there will exist {6 (0

.~</0.<~n--1), such th'.t

~ ~,~,,,, -(/~2,,~ !? + ~z~,0 --0. ~,,0 t~ + b%,o - Oe~,0 - Os(~0 --0:3~. )n~
1734 M.J. Chen, L.G. Tham and Y.K. Cheung

Recalling tile well-kno~nl results of e r r o r estimati,~n for H e r m i t e and B--3

spline interpolati,,n, we h a v e [4] ' [5]

SimilarJy, there will e x i s t {0 ( 0 ~ J 0 ~ n - - 1 ) s u c h that

D~..--~, .~b = ~, .=-w, . , I ~j~ = UF / ~ o - ~ ' . , -.~ ; (4. ~8)

where z%.,.(~.r/)=-z~,,,,~(h~-t-~ri+]oh, b~) . In the Q-directio!l, ,The can find
~o (O~,~c,~m--t) for
~J~,jo - ~ . , =~?~= Nn , ; , . - ~ . . . , n s * (4. tg)
whe re

It can show ~-eadily that

<.oh - + I~.,=--~o...,1,,~
<ch--}( I~. , . , - ~ Io,o+ Iw - ~ , , . Io,,~)
From ( 4 . 1 c ) and (4.11), we h a v e

Kk0 -Ox~ o, ,o hZ+ OxZOY~ o,

+ I O'w
or" o, ,}' )(h+/)~ (4.eo)
Combining (4.]6), (4.17)~ (4.18), (4.19) and (4.20), we p r o v e (4.15).

V. Numerical Examples

The test e x a m p l e is an u n i f o r m l y loaded

L // / / / I 17-- parallelogram plate with two p a r a l l e l simply-

','IIII supported edges and two free e d g e s (Fig. 3).

/I/I,,11 The skew a n g l e is v a r i e d from zero (right plate)
to 60 ~ and the P o i s s o n ' s ratio is t a k e n as 0.31.
+BI I /_1
;/,I/7 The p r e s e n t

y-direction
mesh consists

and six s t r i p s
of nine n o d e s

(n=7) in the
in the

.z-
,o,,,, , ; , / 1 1 direction. The results are c o m p a r e d with
Ol [// / ,//
!I
I ,
1
t , I,
"l
/1.
II R a m s t a d [7] at two d i f f e r e n t points (A and B,
.Wig. 3). It is o b v i o u s that h i g h accuracies for
-ig. 3 M e s h f o r the
both deflection and m o m e n t are a c h i e v e d by the
numeric.l! ox]mp]~.
present toothed (Figs. 4-5).

*) All norms of f i n i t e dimensional space are equivalent.

 Analysis of Thin Parallelogram Plates' Bending 1735

~t pl
Spline Finite Strip ,

~ 8"4 o.3f~ /
SDI ine-F inite Strio o.9
1.5

=' - -
~.._.~_....,.-,..,--~ r/~

1.0
60" 45" 30" ]5" O"

0.5

L 0
L
~o" ,
~5" ,
30" Is" O: _~
Fig. 4 Deflection of Fig. 5 Principle moments and
points A and B. direction of point B.

VI. Conclusion
In this paper, it is shown both numerically and mathematically that spline

finite strip method can be applied in the analysis of p a r a l l e l o g r a m plate. The

spline finite strip only requires two parameters (displacement and rotation) per
node for interpolation to satisfy C~ continuitl, , and this will definitely have
advantage over the standard conforming element of which four unknowns (w, 8~, 0r,

and @=w) per node are required. In addition, the order of convergence is the

same for both cases

REFERENCES

(I) Zienkiewiez, 0 C., The Finite Element Method, 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, U.K.,

(1974).
(2) Cheung, Y.K., Finite Strip Method in Structur~l Analysis, Ist Ed., Pergamon

Press, (1976).
(3) Cheung, Y.K., S.C. Fan and C.Q. Wu, spline Finite Strip in Structural Analy-
sis, proc. of the Int. Conf. on Finite Element Method, Shanghai, .(1982),

704-709.
(4) Schultz, M.H., Spline Analysis, Prentice-Hall Inc., (1973).
(5) Li, Y.S. and D.X. Qi, Spline Method, science Press, (1979). (in Chinese)
(6) Ciarlet, P.G., Numerical Analysis of Finite Element Method (Chinese Version),

(1975).
(7) Ramstad, H., Parallelogram Elements in Bending, Accuracy and Convergence of
Results, Div. of Structural Mechanics, The Technical University of Norway,

(1967).