Quadrilateral shear panel

Various models of structures and structural elements use an assembly of stringers and shear panels. The normal forces in the stringers can vary linearly and the membrane panels have constant shear. Often, these shear panels can be just rectangular but sometimes shear panels with a non-rectangular shape need to be used. In this paper a mathematical formulation is presented for a linear–elastic shear panel with a quadrilateral shape. The panel stiffness matrix is derived by the discrete element method, which yields a simple and efficient computational formulation. Comparison with finite element computations shows that the stiffness matrix is sufficiently accurate for engineering design.