Applied Mechanics Commons^™

Blended Isogeometric Shells, D. J. Benson, S. Hartmann, Y. Bazilevs, Ming-Chen Hsu, T.J.R. Hughes

Ming-Chen Hsu

We propose a new isogeometric shell formulation that blends Kirchhoff–Love theory with Reissner–Mindlin theory. This enables us to reduce the size of equation systems by eliminating rotational degrees of freedom while simultaneously providing a general and effective treatment of kinematic constraints engendered by shell intersections, folds, boundary conditions, the merging of NURBS patches, etc. We illustrate the blended theory’s performance on a series of test problems.