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Original Research Article

A new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling

rotation for linear and nonlinear analysis

C. Rebiaia,n, L. Belounarb,1
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Biskra, BP 145, Biskra 07000, Algeria
b
Civil Engineering Department, University of Biskra, Algeria

art i cle i nfo ab st rac t

Article history: In this paper a new membrane finite element for linear and materially nonlinear analysis
Received 20 June 2012 is developed. The displacements field of this element has been developed by the use of the
Accepted 7 October 2012 strain based approach, and it is based on the assumed functions for the various
components of strain which satisfy the compatibility equation. This rectangular finite

Keywords: element has the three degrees of freedom at each of the four corner nodes (the two

Elastoplastic analysis translations and the in-plane rotation) and the displacement functions of the developed

Strain approach element satisfy the exact representation of the rigid body modes. For elastoplastic analysis,

Membrane finite element Von Mises, Tresca and Mohr–Coulomb yield criteria are adopted, and both initial stress and

Yields criteria initial strain methods are employed. Numerical experiments in both linear and nonlinear

Drilling rotation analysis have been conducted to assess accuracy and reliability of the developed element
compared to the theoretical results and other membrane finite elements.
& 2012 Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. on behalf of Politechnika
Wrocławska.

1. Introduction
Considerable attention in recent years has been given to the
development of new finite elements based on the strain
approach [1–4], in which the displacement fields can be
obtained by integrating the strains. This approach provides
many advantages which are: easy satisfaction of the conver-
gence criteria, independent functions for the various compo-
nents of strain insofar as it is allowed by the compatibility
equations and enrichment of the displacements field by
higher order terms without introducing nonessential degrees
of freedom.
The use of this approach for the development of new finite
elements was first applied by Ashwell and Sabir, and
concerned only with curved ones [5,6]. This approach was
later extended to the development of simple and efficient
rectangular and triangular elements having the in-plane
rotation as nodal degrees of freedom [7], for plane elasticity
problems [8,9], for three-dimensional elasticity [10], for
cylindrical shells [11–13], and for plate bending [14]. The
strain based approach was also extended to geometrically
nonlinear analysis [15–18], however there is no published
work on the elastoplastic behavior of strain based finite
elements. The development of numerical techniques based
on finite elements with drilling degrees of freedom has also
received a considerable attention in recent years [19,20].
Generally, there are two purposes to develop membrane
element with drilling degree of freedom. The first is to

n
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ213 776 01 18 50.
E-mail addresses: crebiai@yahoo.fr (C. Rebiai), belounarl@yahoo.com (L. Belounar).
1
Tel./fax: þ213 666 25 61 45.

1644-9665/$ - see front matter & 2012 Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. on behalf of Politechnika Wrocławska.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001

Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
2 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]

improve the elemental accuracy, and the other is to provide additional equation called the compatibility equation. This
an ideal membrane element to form shell element or to equation can be formed by the eliminating U, V from Eq. (1),
connect it with other kinds of elements with rotational hence
degree of freedom such as beam element, to do some 2
@2 ex @2 ey @ gxy
complicated engineering analysis [21]. 2
þ 2 ¼0 ð2Þ
@y @x @x@y
For displacement analysis of solids the Q4 element can be
quite stiff in certain deformation modes, while the Q8 with all the three strains given by Eq. (1) equal to zero, we
element can be quite expensive to use, involving as it does must integrate these equations to obtain the following
16 degrees of freedom. In this context, we propose in this expressions:
work an intermediate rectangular membrane finite element U ¼ a1 a3 y
that, in the first purpose, improves the analysis in terms of V ¼ a2 þ a3 x
results and of computing times, and then extend the strain 1 
y¼ V,xU,y
based approach to the material nonlinear applications, which 2
y ¼ a3 ð3Þ
is investigated for the first time. However this membrane
element with drilling rotation can be also combined with Eq. (3) gives the three components of rigid body displace-
plate bending element to form shell element. This new finite ments. This developed element is rectangular with four
element named SBREDR (Strain Based Rectangular Element nodes and each node has three degrees of freedom (U, V, y).
with Drilling Rotation), possesses four corner nodes with the Thus the displacement field should contain 12 independent
three degrees of freedom at each node. In fact to reflect constants. Having used three (a1, a2, a3) for the representation
exactly both elastic and elastoplastic behaviors of the devel- of the rigid body components, nine constants remain (a4,
oped element in the structural analysis, plane stress, plane a5,y.., a12) for expressing the displacement due to straining
strain, and axisymmetrical problems are considered. The of the element. These are apportioned among the strains as
performance of this element is first tested by applying it to ex ¼ a4 þ a6 y þ a8 x þ a10 y2 þ 2a11 xy3
the linear analysis and then to the two-dimensional elasto- ey ¼ a7 þ a8 x þ 2a9 ya10 x2 2a11 yx3
plastic analysis. Results obtained confirm the good perfor-  
gxy ¼ 2a5 þ 2a6 x þ 2a8 y þ 2a9 y þ 2a10 yx þ 2a12 x ð4Þ
mance of this developed element.
The strains given by Eq. (4) satisfy the compatibility
equation given by Eq. (2). Expressions given in (4) are equated
2. Matrix formulation of the SBREDR element to the equations in terms of U, V from Eq. (1) and the resulting
equations are integrated, to give
 
The rectangular element SBREDR with three degrees of U ¼ a4 x þ a5 y þ a6 xy þ a8 y2 =2 þ x2 =2 þ a9 y2
freedom (Ui, Vi, and in plane rotation yi) at each of the four  
þa10 xy2 þ y2 þ a11 x2 y3
corner nodes is schematically shown in Fig. 1 where a and b V ¼ a5 x þ a6 x2 =2 þ a7 y þ a8 xy þ a9 y2
are the length of the element sides in the x and y directions  
a10 x2 y þ x2 a11 x3 y2 þ a12 x2
respectively.   
y ¼ a9 y2a10 xy þ x þ y Þ3a11 x2 y2 þ a12 x ð5Þ
The three components of strain are given by
The final displacement functions are obtained by adding
@U
ex ¼ U, x ¼ , Eqs. (3) and (5) to obtain the following:
@x
@V  
ey ¼ V, y ¼ , U ¼ a1 a3 y þ a4 x þ a5 y þ a6 xy þ a8 y2 =2 þ x2 =2
@y  
þa9 y2 þ a10 xy2 þ y2 þ a11 x2 y3
@U @V
gxy ¼ U,y þ V,x ¼ þ ð1Þ V ¼ a2 þ a3 x þ a5 x þ a6 x2 =2 þ a7 y þ a8 xy þ a9 y2
@y @x  
a10 x2 y þ x2 a11 x3 y2 þ a12 x2
The components of the strain given in Eq. (1) cannot be   
y ¼ a3 a9 y2a10 xy þ x þ y Þ3a11 x2 y2 þ a12 x ð6Þ
considered independent, for they are in terms of two dis-
placements U, V and hence the strain must satisfy an The displacement functions of the developed element
SBREDR given by Eq. (6) can be written in matrix form as:
fUg ¼ ½CfAg ð7Þ

where U is the nodal displacement vector, A is the constant

parameters vector {ai} ¼1,y,12 and the 12  12 transforma-
tion matrix [C] is given in the Appendix.
The stiffness matrix [Ke] can be calculated from the well
known expression
Z Z 
½Ke  ¼ ½CT ½QT ½D½Qdx dy ½C1 ¼ ½CT ½K0 ½C1 ð8Þ

The determinant of the Jacobian matrix, must also be eval-

uated because it is used in the transformed integrals as follows:
Z Z Z þ1 Z þ1
dxdy ¼ detjJjdx dZ ð9Þ
Fig. 1 – SBREDR element with drilling rotation. 1 1

Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]] 3

Thus the matrix [K0] is numerically evaluated, and since the and the 4  4 stress–strain matrix must be redefined as
matrix [C] of the developed element is not singular, its inverse 2 v v 3
1 1v 0 1v
can be also numerically evaluated and the element stiffness 6 v v 7
Eð1vÞ 6 1v 1 0 1v 7
matrix [Ke] can be obtained by ½D  ¼ 6 7 ð19Þ
ð1 þ vÞð12vÞ 6 0 2ð1vÞ 0 7
12v
4 0 5
Z 1 Z 1  v v
0 1
1v 1v
½Ke  ¼ ½CT ½QT ½D½QdetjJjdx dZ ½C1 ð10Þ
1 1

For the case of plane stress problems the elasticity matrix 3. Linear numerical validation
[D] is
2 3 Various several examples for plane elasticity problems are
1 v 0
E 6v 1 presented to validate the level of accuracy and computational
½D  ¼ 4 0 7
5 ð11Þ
ð1v2 Þ 1v efficiency obtained with the developed element. The behavior
0 0 2
of the proposed element is numerically investigated here by
comparison with:
For the case of plane strain problems the elasticity matrix
[D] is
 Q8: the eight nodes quadrilateral element with 16 degrees
2 3
ð1vÞ v 0 of freedom (DOFs).
E 6 v 0 7
½D  ¼ 4 ð 1vÞ 5 ð12Þ  LST (T6): linear strain triangle with six nodes and 12 DOFs.
ð1 þ vÞð12vÞ ð12vÞ
0 0 2  SBRIEIR: the four nodes strain based rectangular in-plane
element with in-plane rotation with 12 DOFs [7].
Eq. (4) can be written in matrix form as  Mixed-type: elements with drilling DOFs [30].
8 9  Kugler: element with drilling DOFs [19].
> e >
< x =  SBRIE and SBRIE1: Strain based rectangular in-plane ele-
feg ¼ ey ¼ ½Q½A ð13Þ ments with four nodes and eight DOFs [9].
>
:g >
;
xy

where each of e and g correspond to normal and shear stress, 3.1. Mac-Neal’s elongated cantilever beam
respectively and [Q] is the strain matrix given by
The problem of a cantilever beam shown in Fig. 2 has been
½Q ¼ ½L½C ð14Þ treated by Mac-Neal and Harder [22]. The beam is subjected
to a concentrated force shearing at the free end (P ¼1) and to
where [L] is the differential operator matrix given in the
a pure bending moment (M¼ 10). It has Young’s modulus
Appendix.
E¼ 107, Poisson’s ratio v¼ 0.3, and a thickness t ¼ 0.1.
Then
The results of the normalized deflection at the free end
2 3 presented in Tables 1 and 2 show that:
0 0 0 1 0 y 0 x 0 y2 2xy3 0
6 x2 2x3 y 0 7
½Q ¼ 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 x 2y 5
   The SBREDR gives better results than the elements,
0 0 0 0 2 2x 0 2y 2y 2 yx 0 2x
SBRIEIR [7], SBRIE [9], and SBRIE1 [9] and it is in good
ð15Þ
agreement with the Q8 and T6 elements.
In the passage to the axisymmetric conditions we substi-  The SBREDR element has achieved excellent convergence
tute x and y by r and z respectively in the matrix [C] thus the to the reference solution in both problems (force shearing
strain matrix [Q] of the developed SBREDR element in this and pure bending).
case is expressed as  SBREDR uses less degree of freedom than the Q8 and T6
and consequently it is more economic.
½Q n  ¼ ½Ln ½C ð16Þ

where [L] is the differential operator matrix defined as 3.2. Short cantilever beam of Allman
2 @
3
@r 0 The short cantilever beam is subjected to uniform vertical
6 @ 7
 n 6 0 @z 7 load (with resultant W) as shown in Fig. 3, and it is modeled
L ¼66@
7
@ 7 ð17Þ
4 @z @r 5 by four rectangular elements. The results of the displacement
1
r 0 at the free end presented in Table 3 show that the accuracy of

Thus the obtained strain matrix [Q] is given as

2 3
0 0 0 1 0 z 0 r 0 z2 2rz3 0
6 7
 n 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 r 2z r2 2r3 z 07
Q ¼660
7
4 0 0 0 2 2r 0 2z 2z 2ðzrÞ 0 2r 7
5
1 z z2
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2z3 0
r r r Fig. 2 – Mac-Neal’s elongated beam subject to (1) end shear
ð18Þ and (2) end bending.

Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
4 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]
Table 1 – Normalized deflection for Mac-Neal’s elongated beam subjected to end shear.
Load case (1): Force shearing at the free end P ¼1
Mesh LST(T6) Q8
61 0.9830 0.9868
12  1 0.9930 0.9933
Reference solution 1000 (0.1081).
Table 2 – Normalized deflection for Mac-Neal’s elongated beam subjected to end pure bending.
Load case (1): Pure bending moment M ¼10
Mesh LST(T6) Q8
61 0.9932 0.9919
12  1 0.9967 0.9962
Reference solution 1000 (0.270).
Fig. 3 – Cantilever beam under a tip load.
the developed element is still good. Due to the small
meshing, its accuracy is slightly lower than the Q8 and T6
elements, but very acceptable. In Table 4 several aspect ratios
of (a/b) are considered in this study. The SBREDR converges
better than that of Allman [24] towards the reference solution
[23] for the normalized vertical displacement at point A.
3.3. Plane flexure of cantilever beam
The objective of this problem is to calculate the deflection
VA at the free end of a cantilever beam, with uniform cross-
section, subjected to uniform vertical load with Young’s
modulus E¼ 107, Poisson’s ratio v ¼0.3 as shown in Fig. 4.
This problem has been treated by Batoz in [25] to test the
performance of the elements CST, LST, Q4, Q4WT [26,27],
Q4PS [28] and Q8. Ayad in [29] made a similar study to test the
ability of two new finite elements (FRQ, and FRT) based on the
concept ‘‘Plane Fiber in rotation’’. Table 5 shows the results
obtained for different meshing for this problem.
The results presented in Table 5 show that:
 The present element gives better results than the FRQ,
SBRIEIR and CST elements.
 Results of SBREDR are similar with those obtained by Q8
and T6 elements; however the latter elements use more
degrees of freedom.
3.4. Simple cantilever beam
This problem has been treated in [19,20,30,31] in which a
cantilever beam modeled by six rectangular elements with
Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
SBRIE SBRIE1 SBRIEIR SBREDR
0.9035 0.9035 0.9035 0.9633
0.9083 0.9083 0.9083 0.9984
SBRIE SBRIE1 SBRIEIR SBREDR
0.91 0.91 0.91 0.9730
0.91 0.91 0.91 1.000
Young’s modulus E ¼100, Poisson’s ratio v¼ 0, is subjected to
two different loads P ¼1, and M¼ 0.5, as it is shown in Fig. 5.
The vertical displacement and the rotation at the point B are
computed in this numerical example.
The results presented in Table 6 show that the developed
element gives the exact solution for both cases of loads. The
results in terms of the drilling rotations show a significant
improvement with those of [30,31].
3.5. Thick cylindrical tube under internal pressure
This example is used as a Benchmark axisymmetric problem.
A cylindrical hollow tube of inner radius a and outer radius b
is subjected to internal pressure P ¼40. The cross section of
this thick cylindrical tube is shown in Fig. 6.
The tube extends indefinitely along the z axis and is in a
plane strain state along that direction with Young’s modulus
E ¼1000, Poisson’s ratio v¼ 0.3, a¼ 4, and b¼ 10. A slice of
thickness d is extracted and discretized as shown in Fig. 7.
Results represented in Fig. 8 show the good performances
of the present element. These results agree well from those of
the Q8 element and from the exact solution given in [23].
In conclusion, it can be seen that SBREDR is very powerful
for this type of analysis.
4. Elastoplastic analysis
In elastoplastic analysis, the problem is further complicated
by the dependence of plastic strain on the previous
stress–strain history of the material. In this study three
different yield criteria are employed. The Tresca and Von
Mises laws, which closely approximate metal plasticity beha-
vior, are considered and the Mohr–Coulomb criterion, which
is applicable to concrete rocks and soils, is used. The constant
stiffness method is adopted for the sake of its simplicity,
which involves constant stiffness iterations in which non-
linearity is introduced by iteravely modifying the right hand
side loads vector. The usually elastic global stiffness matrix in
such an analysis is formed ones only. Convergence is said to
 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]] 5

Table 3 – Vertical displacement at point A.

Normalized displacement at point A

Mesh Q8 LST(T6) SBRIE ALLMAN SBRIEIR SBREDR

41 0.3495 0.3480 0.3293 0.3027 0.3300 0.3412

Reference solution [23] 1000 (0.3553).

Table 4 – Normalized vertical displacement at point A. @Q

dep ¼ dl ð24Þ
@s
a/b Mesh VA/Vexact
where dl is a nonnegative scalar in the whole plastic loading
Normalized displacement at point A history.
Substituting Eq. (24) into Eq. (23) yields
SBREDR ALLMAN  
@Q
ds ¼ De  dedl ð25Þ
1 82 0.985 0.95 @s
2 42 0.964 0.91
As the stress point in the plastic stage is on the yield
2.667 32 0.948 0.87
4 22 0.912 0.77 surface, we have
8 21 0.75 /  T
@f
df ðsÞ ¼  ds ¼ 0 ð26Þ
@s
Reference solution [23]. VA ¼ (PL3/3EI)þ((4þ5v)PL)/2EH 1000 (0.3553).
Substituting Eq. (25) into Eq. (26) leads to
2 @Q   @f T 3
6De U @s U @s UDe 7
Dp ¼ 4  T   5 ð27Þ
@f
@s UDe U @Q
@s

where Dp is the plastic matrix.

The body-loads ‘‘Fib’’ in the stress redistribution process are
reformed at each iteration by summing the following integral
Fig. 4 – Cantilever beam subjected to uniform vertical load. for all elements that possess yielding Gauss point; thus

all ZZ
X
occur when stresses generated by the loads satisfy some Fib ¼ BT DP ðdeÞi dxdy ð28Þ
yield criterions within prescribed tolerances. The loads vector ele;ents
at each iteration consists of externally applied loads and self
equilibrating body-loads. This analysis employs two methods
for generating body-loads: visco-plastic (named as initial 4.2. Visco-plastic method (initial strain method)
strain) and initial stress methods to predict the response to
loading of an elastic perfectly plastic material. The body-loads ‘‘Fib’’ accumulated at each time step within
each load step by summing the following integrals for all
elements containing a yielding Gauss point:
4.1. Constitutive matrix (initial stress method)
all ZZ
X i
Fib ¼ Fi1
b þ BT De ðdevp Þ dxdy ð29Þ
The incremental relationship of the stress and strain can be ele;ents
formulated as
where
 i
ds ¼ Dep de ð20Þ B is the strain matrix, De is the elastic matrix, and devP is
the visco-plastic strain increments and it is given by the
where Dep is the elasto-plastic matrix, ds is the stress
multiplication of the visco-plastic strain rate by a pseudo
increment vector, and de is composed of the elastic and the
time step as follows:
plastic increment componentswhere
 vP i i
de ¼ dee þ dep ð21Þ de ¼ dtðe_ vp Þ ð30Þ

Meanwhile, the stress increment can be determined by where dt is given for each criterion as follows:
Hook’s rule as for Von Mises criterion

ds ¼ De dee ð22Þ dt ¼ 4ð1 þ vÞ=3E ð31Þ

where De is the elastic matrix, then Eq. (20) can be rewritten For Mohr–Coulomb criterion
as dt ¼ 4ð1 þ vÞð12vÞ=12v þ sin2 fÞ ð32Þ
p
ds ¼ De ðdede Þ ð23Þ vp
and ðe_ Þ is the visco-plastic strain given by
The plastic strain is proportional to the stress gradient of a @Q
ðe_ vp Þ ¼ F ð33Þ
quantity termed the plastic potential Q then @s

Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
6 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]

Table 5 – Displacement VA of the beam in plane flexure.

Mesh Elements

FRQ Q8 LST(T6) CST(T3) SBRIEIR SBREDR

RI:2  2 EI:3  3 IE:3HP IE:1HP AI EI:4  4

11 2.76 3.03 3.00 0.05 2.75 2.78

(12) (16) (18) (8) (12) (12)

21 3.44 3.70 3.70 0.13 3.43 3.52

(18) (26) (30) (12) (18) (18)

31 3.56 3.84 3.84 0.25 3.56 3.74

(24) (3 6) (42) (16) (24) (24)

Reference solution VA ¼4.03.

n
VA vertical displacement in A; EI: exact integration; AI: analytical integration; HP hammer point.
nn
TNDF: Total number of degree of freedom.

Table 6 – Vertical displacement and rotation at the point

B of the beam.

Formulations/ Loads Vertical Rotation at

elements cases displacement point B

Mixed type [30] (1) 1.5000 0.6000

(2) 1.5000 0.6207
Fig. 5 – Cantilever beam subjected to two different loads
Displacement (1) 1.5000 0.6000
(mesh 6  1). type [30] (2) 1.5000 0.6207

Taylor and (1) 1.5000 1.2000

where F is the yield function and @Q=@s is the derivatives of
Simo [31] (2) 1.5000 2.1898
the plastic potential function Q with the respect to stresses
and it is given in Ref. [33]. SBREDR (1) 1.5000 0.6000
(2) 1.5000 0.6000

SBRIEIR [7] (1) 1.5000 0.6000

5. Numerical validation (2) 1.5000 0.6000

SBRIE [9] (1) 1.5000 /

The aim of this study is to show the performance of the
(2) 1.5000 /
developed element compared to the 8-nodes quadrilateral
element, to the analytical solutions, and to the other meth- Q8 (1) 1.5000 /
ods in elastoplastic analysis. Four numerical problems are (2) 1.5000 /

presented and in each problem reduced integration is used LST (T6) (1) 1.5000 /
for Gaussian quadrature. (2) 1.5000 /

Kugler et al. [19] (1) 1.5000 0.6000

5.1. Bearing capacity analysis of purely coherent soil (2) 1.5101 0.6000

Reference 1.5000 0.6000

The first problem to be considered is of a flexible strip footing
at the surface of a layer of uniform undrained clay shown in
Fig. 9. The elastoplastic soil is described by three parameters,
namely the elastic properties, Young’s modulus E¼ 105 kN/m2,
Poisson’s ratio n ¼0.3, and the undrained cohesion Cu¼ 100
kN/m2. The footing supports a uniform stress q ¼1 kN/m2,
which is increased incrementally to failure. Plane strain
conditions, visco-plastic method, and the Von Mises criterion
are assumed for this numerical example. Bearing failure in
this problem occurs when q reaches the Prandtl load given by
qultime ¼ ð2 þ pÞCu
solution
 The SBREDR element has quite rapid rate of convergence
to the reference solution.
 The SBREDR with 12 degrees of freedom and the 8-node
quadrilateral element with 16 degrees of freedom have
similar results but the latter element uses more degrees of
freedom.
ð34Þ

This problem has been treated in [33], by the use of the
8-node quadrilateral element. The obtained results for this
problem have been plotted in Fig. 10 in the form of a
dimensionless bearing capacity factor q/Cu versus centerline
displacement. These results show that:
When the Tresca and the Von Mises yield criteria are used
the corresponding numerical solutions with the SBREDR
element and the Q8 element are given in Table 7. The use
of the SBREDR under different yield criteria shows that this
element is robust and accurate in elastoplastic analysis.

Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]
Fig. 6 – Cross-section of thick cylindrical tube under internal
pressure.
Fig. 7 – Mesh of a slice of thick cylindrical tube.
Fig. 8 – Pressurized thick cylinder: computed and exact
nodal solutions (Mesh 4  1).
5.2. A cantilever beam subjected to a concentrated force
Miaojuan in [35] has studied the behavior of a cantilever
beam using the complex variable element-free Galerkin
(CVEFG) method for two-elasto-plasticity problems. Fig. 11
shows the geometry and mesh of this cantilever beam, which
Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
7
Fig. 9 – Geometry and mesh of the flexible strip footing.
Fig. 10 – Bearing stress versus centerline displacement.
is loaded by a concentrated force P and fixed at its left end.
The elastoplastic behavior of the cantilever beam has been
studied for the following properties: the yield stress sy ¼25 Pa,
Young’s modulus E¼ 105 Pa and Poisson’s ratio n¼ 0.25, the
concentrated force P ¼1 N. The geometry is described by: the
length of the beam L¼8 m, the height h¼ 1 m and the depth
t ¼1 m. Plane stress conditions, visco-plastic method and a
Von Mises criterion, are assumed for this numerical problem.
The numerical solutions of vertical displacements at some
nodes obtained using the developed element SBREDR are
shown in Table 8. Compared with the CVEFG method, the
element-free Galerkin method (EFG) and ANSYS, we can see
that results using this developed element are in good agree-
ment with those of ASNYS, CVEFG method, and EFG method.
5.3. Passive earth pressure analysis
Fig. 12 shows the sand with the strength parameters: friction
angle j ¼301, cohesion c¼ 0, dilation angle c ¼0 and the initial
stresses in the ground are calculated assuming the unit
weight g ¼20 KN/m3 and at rest earth pressure coefficient
K0 ¼1, is subjected to prescribed displacement along the left
face. This problem is used to evaluate the ability of the
SBREDR element to represent a wall displacement and the
resultant force. This problem has been considered in [34]
using the 8-node quadrilateral element. Plane strain condi-
tions, initial stress method and a Mohr–Coulomb criterion are
assumed for this numerical problem.
The results represented in Fig. 13 show that for the SBREDR
element, the force is seen to build up a maximum value of
8 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]

29.34 kN/m, but for the Q8 element the force is of 30.68 kN/m,
and then the results of both elements agree well with the
closed form Rankine solution (30 kN/m) given in [32].
5.4. Axisymmetric undrained analysis
This problem has been treated in [33], using the 8-node quad-
rilateral element. Fig. 14 represents a single axisymmetric 4-node
SBREDR element subjected to vertical compressive displacement
increments along its top face. The analysis is of a triaxial test,
in which the sample has been consolidated under a cell pressure
of 100 kN/m2, followed by undrained axial loading. Two types of
analysis are considered in this problem. In the first analysis the
dilation angle c¼ 0, and in the second analysis c¼ 301.
The sand properties for this problem are as follows: friction
angle j¼ 301, Young’s modulus E¼ 2.5  105 kN/m2, Poisson’s
ratio n¼ 0.25, cohesion C¼ 0, and the Bulk modulus Ke ¼106
kN/m2. Visco-plastic method and a Mohr–Coulomb criterion
are assumed for this numerical problem.
Results of the deviator stress versus vertical deflection have
been plotted in Fig. 15 for both undrained analysis together
with the drained result.
In the first analysis, c¼ 0, the deviator stress obtained by the
use of the SBREDR element reaches a peak of 120.2 kN/m2, which
is in close agreement with the closed form solution of 120.8
kN/m2 [36], and with the value of 121 kN/m2 of the Q8 element
given in [33]. Second analysis, which includes an associated flow
rule (c¼ 301), shows no sign of yield due to the tendency for
dilation. In this case, the pore pressures continue to yield and the
deviator stress continues to rise; this is with the influence of
dilation on the behavior of the two elements.
6. Conclusions
In this paper a new four nodes membrane rectangular finite
element named SBREDR based on the strain approach is devel-
oped for the elastic and elasto-plastic analysis. This element is
simple and straightforward with 12 degrees of freedom and
contains higher order of polynomial terms. Numerical results
obtained using this element agree well with those from theore-
tical solutions. This developed element is found to be numeri-
cally similar to the Q8 and T6 elements, but the latter elements

Table 7 – Vertical displacement under the loaded node of

coordinate (0,0).

Load (kN) Displacement (m) Displacement (m)

Von Mises Tresca

SBREDR Q8 SBREDR Q8

200 0.006504 0.006592 0.006504 0.06592

300 0.01122 0.01155 0.01099 0.01118
350 0.01595 0.01630 0.01500 0.01587
400 0.02247 0.02316 0.02119 0.02249
450 0.03363 0.03317 0.03261 0.03213
480 0.04370 0.04227 0.04279 0.04100 Fig. 12 – Mesh and data for passive earth pressure analysis.
500 0.05195 0.05084 0.05118 0.04934
510 0.05759 0.05665 0.05596 0.05498
515 0.06263 0.06093 0.06115 0.05862
520 0.07627 0.07459 0.06981 0.06669

Fig. 11 – Geometry and mesh of the cantilever beam

subjected to concentrated force. Fig. 13 – Passive force versus horizontal movement.

Table 8 – Vertical displacement of the beam subjected to a concentrated force (mm).

Node coordinate (1.6,0.5) (3.2,0.5) (4.8,0.5) (6.4,0.5) (8.0,0.5)

ANSYS [35] 2.020 6.837 13.227 20.600 28.460
EFG [35] 1.946 6.728 13.077 20.409 28.236
CVEFG [35] 2.068 6.904 13.303 20.666 28.524
SBREDR 1.617 6.259 12.680 20.140 28.140

Please cite this article as: C. Rebiai, L. BelounarA new strain based rectangular finite element with drilling rotation for linear
and nonlinear analysis, Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acme.2012.10.001
 archives of civil and mechanical engineering ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]] 9

where xi and yi are the coordinates of node i (i ¼1, 4), the

matrix [C] is given by

½C ¼ ½½C1 ½C2 ½C3 ½C4 T

The differential matrix is given by

2@ 3
@x 0
60 @ 7
½L ¼ 6
4 @y 7
5
@ @
@y @x

r e f e r e nc e s

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