Finite Element Formulation for Plates - Handout 4 -

Discrete Kirchhoff Elements
■ The principal approach is best illustrated with a Timoshenko beam
■ The displacements and rotations are approximated with quadratic shape
functions
■ The inner variables are eliminated by enforcing zero shear stress at the two
gauss points
■ Back inserting into the interpolation equations leads to a beam
element with 4 nodal parameters
Page 86
F Cirak