Abstract

The fundamental advantages of applying Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) to shell analysis have been extensively demonstrated across a wide range of problems and formulations. However, a phenomenon called numerical locking is still a major challenge in IGA shell analysis, which can lead to dramatically deteriorated analysis accuracy. Additionally, for complex thin-walled structures, a simple and robust coupling technique is desired to sew together models composed of multiple patches. This dissertation focuses on addressing these challenges of IGA shell analysis. First, an isogeometric dual mortar method is developed for multi-patch coupling. This method is based on Be ?zier extraction and projection and can be employed during the creation and editing of geometry through properly modified extraction operators. It is applicable to any spline space which has a representation in Be ?zier form. The error in the method can be adaptively controlled, in some cases recovering optimal higher-order rates of convergence, by leveraging the exact refineability of the proposed dual spline basis without introducing any additional degrees-of-freedom into the linear system. This method can be used not only for shell elements but also for heat transfer and solid elements, etc. Next, a mixed formulation for IGA shell analysis is proposed that addresses both shear and membrane locking and improves the quality of computed stresses. The starting point of the formulation is the modified Hellinger-Reissner variational principle with independent displacement, membrane, and shear strains as the unknown fields. To overcome locking, the strain variables are interpolated with lower-order spline bases while the variations of the strain variables are interpolated with the proposed dual spline bases. As a result, the strain variables can be condensed out of the system with only a slight increase in the bandwidth of the resulting linear system and the condensed approach preserves the accuracy of the non-condensed mixed approach but with fewer degrees-of-freedom. Finally, as an alternative, new quadrature rules are developed to release membrane and shear locking. These quadrature rules asymptotically only require one point for Reissner-Mindlin (RM) shell elements and two points for Kirchhoff-Love (KL) shell elements in B-spline and NURBS-based isogeometric shell analysis, independent of the polynomial order p of the elements. The quadrature points are Greville abscissae and the quadrature weights are calculated by solving a linear moment fitting problem in each parametric direction. These quadrature rules are free of spurious zero-energy modes and any spurious finite-energy modes in membrane stiffness can be easily stabilized by using a higher-order Greville rule.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Civil and Environmental Engineering

Rights

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