Consistency assessment of plate bending theories for the implementation of efficient hybrid finite elements in linear statics and dynamics

Resumo

The present developments are part of a research work that aims to implement computationally efficient
models of foldable and deployable structures, which are finding increasing application in the industry. In spite of
the availability of powerful commercial codes, numerical models of large foldable and deployable systems would

rather work with a minimum amount of degrees of freedom to allow for straightforward engineering conceptual-
izations while preserving the structure’s basic static and dynamic properties. A thorough survey of the literature on

moderately thick panels points out the existence of too many theoretical contradictions since the papers by Hencky,
Timoshenko, Mindlin and Reissner, to mention just a few early researchers. This very critical literature review is
part of the present contribution, which also presents a proposition that may claim some originality in terms of both
mechanical consistency and ease of computational implementation.