Equilibrium-Based Finite Element Analysis of the Reissner-Mindlin Plate Bending Problem.

A stress-based finite element approach to the Reissner-Mindlin plate bending problem is proposed. The rectangular Bogner-Fox-Schmit and triangular Hsieh-Clough-Tocher elements are applied to approximate the Southwell stress function describing the statically admissible stress field in a plate. To have some reference for the numerical results and estimate errors of the approximate solutions, two displacement-based elements with 12 and 22 degrees of freedom are also utilised. The variant of boundary conditions-known in the literature as 2D or hard BC-is analysed in the present study.