NEW SPLINE FINITE-ELEMENT FOR ANALYSIS OF SHELLS OF REVOLUTION

A new axisymmetric element suitable for the static analysis of shells of revolution is developed in this paper. The element, which is based on classical thin shell theory, employs a set of B-spline shape functions for the interpolation of the geometry as well as the displacements. These shape functions, which are C2 continuous, can be obtained easily by choosing a suitable linear combination of cubic splines. By adopting the standard finite element procedure, the merits of spline interpolation and the versatility of the finite element method are incorporated. In order to show the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed element, numerical examples are presented. It can be observed that in most cases, accurate results can be obtained with only a small number of elements. In the current stage of development, only linear analysis is carried out. However, with further research, the spline finite element has a bright potential of being extended to nonlinear and dynamic analysis of various shells of revolution. © ASCE.