A fully nonlinear multi-parameter shell model with thickness variation and a triangular shell finite element

This work presents a fully nonlinear multi-parameter shell formulation together with a triangular shell finite element for the solution of static boundary value problems. Our approach accounts for thickness variation as additional nodal DOFs, using a director theory with a standard Reissner-Mindlin kinematical assumption. Finite rotations are exactly treated by the Euler-Rodrigues formula in a pure Lagrangean framework, and elastic constitutive equations are consistently derived from fully three-dimensional finite strain constitutive models. The corresponding 6-node triangular shell element is presented as a generalization of the T6-3i triangle introduced by the authors in [3].