Coupling of two- and three-dimensional composite shell elements in linear and non-linear applications Original Research Article

A numerical model for the non-linear analysis of laminates is presented. The developed element is based on piecewise polynomial interpolation in thickness direction. Although the total number of degrees of freedom is comparable to a discretization with 3D brick elements this approach provides several advantages, e.g. a simple mesh generation due to a 2D-type data structure and a better bending behavior. The developed isoparametric quadrilateral finite element allows prediction of the complete stress state. Furthermore, a transition element is presented which is used to couple the developed element with 5-parameter shell elements. Several linear and non-linear examples are presented to illustrate the performance of the developed numerical model.