Table Of ContentFINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
OF THIN-WALLED STRUCTURES
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
OF THIN-WALLED STRUCTURES
Edited by
JO H N w . B U LL
Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Taylor &. Francis
Taylor &. Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
Taylor & Francis,
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN
Transferred to Digital Printing 2005
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Finite element analysis of thin-walled
structures
1. Shells (Engineering) 2. Finite element
method
I. Bull, J. W.
624.17762 TA660.S5
ISBN 1-85166-136-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Finite element analysis of thin-walled structures/edited by John W.
Bull.
p. cm.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-85166-136-0
1. Thin-walled structures. 2. Finite element method.
3. Structures, Theory of--Data processing. I. Bull, John W.
TA660.T5F56 1988
624.1'71--dcl9 87-20005 CIP
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Preface
The aim of this book is to present a series of chapters that describe
current developments in the finite element analysis and design of
certain types of thin-walled structures. Each chapter is presented in a
self-contained manner and concentrates on the practical aspects of
finite elements and their use.
The choice of using the finite element method of analysis to the
exclusion of other methods of analysis is, for the user, considerably
eased by the ready availability of finite element analysis packages,
coupled with the easy access to the required computing resources.
For engineers, an answer to within 10% of the correct answer is
acceptable. To a mathematician, 1% is a large error, but mathe
maticians usually have alternative analytical solutions with which to
calibrate their results. No such analytical calibration is available to an
engineer who may be designing an air-inflated building, an axisym-
metric thin shell, a ship’s hull or the leg of an oil-drilling platform.
In the analysis of shell structures using finite elements, which the
editor researched for his Ph.D., care had to be taken to ensure that
elements were always used within the boundaries of their theoretical
development. This proved to be no easy task. Elements that gave
accurate answers to, say, a shallow barrel-vault roof could be most
inaccurate when used for a deep barrel-vault roof.
In design offices, engineers are under pressure, and rightly so, to
produce safe and efficient designs. Engineers need to have a knowledge
of the available finite elements and their associated software, together
with an ability to detect and avoid incorrect numerical results. The first
three chapters of this book are designed to assist in this process.
V
vi Preface
Chapter 1 lays the foundations for the development and the use of
finite elements for thin-walled structures. Chapter 2 looks at the
availability of finite element software packages and suggests caution
with respect to their indiscriminate use. In Chapter 3 the necessity of
validating the input data, the elements and the mesh arrangement to
be used are discussed. The chapter even suggests the testing of the
elements to be used.
In deciding which area of structures to apply the use of finite
elements to, a library search revealed that, although there are over 50
books on finite elements and 13 or so books on thin-walled structures
published in the UK, there was no one book bringing together both
finite elements and thin-walled structures. This was surprising, con
sidering the rapidly increasing use of structures, such as buildings,
pipelines, ships and oil platforms that rely upon their in-plane stiffness
to resist loading. The final four chapters of this book show how the
finite element method is used to assist in the solution of these
thin-walled structures.
Chapter 4 analyses membrane structures varying from cables under
self weight to water-inflated dams and air-inflated buildings. In Chapter
5 an axisymmetric thin-shell element has been developed and applied
to a series of problems. Chapter 6 shows in detail the relationship
between the finite element method, the loads, stresses, analytical and
experimental work on ship structures and how this relationship is
changing the way in which ships are designed. Finally, Chapter 7
illustrates details of offshore structures that are most frequently
analysed using thin-shell elements.
John W. Bull
C o n te n ts
Preface.......................................................................................................... v
List of Contributors................................................................................ ix
1. Finite Elements Available for the Analysis of Non-curved
Thin-walled Structures................................................................... 1
Slade Gellin and George C. Lee
2. The Availability of Finite Element Software for Use with
Thin-walled Structures................................................................... 47
C. H. Woodford
3. Detecting and Avoiding Numerical Difficulties......................... 71
Ed Akin
4. The Analysis of Thin-walled Membrane Structures Using
Finite Elem ents................................................................................ 93
C. T. F. Ross
5. Axisymmetric Thin Shells...............................................................133
D. Hitchings
6. Finite Element Analysis and the Design of Thin-walled Ship
Structures.............................................................................................165
David Andrews
vii
viii Contents
7. Finite Element Analysis and Design of Thin-walled Structures
in the Offshore Industry...................................................................227
Nahid Javadi
Index..........................................................................................................249
L ist o f C o n trib u to rs
Ed Akin
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,
Rice University, 6100 Main Street, P.O. Box 1892, Houston,
Texas 77251, USA
David Andrews
Sea System Controllerate, Ministry of Defence, Foxhill,
Bath BA15AB, UK.
Slade Gellin
Bell Aerospace Textron, P.O. Box 1, Buffalo, New York 14240,
USA
D. Hitchings
Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College of Science and
Technology, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Nahid Javadi
Wimpey Offshore, 27 Hammersmith Grove, Hammersmith, Lon
don W6 7EN, UK. Address for correspondence: 56 Bolingbroke
Rd, London W14, UK
George C. Lee
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, State University of
