A linearly conforming radial point interpolation method (LC-RPIM) for shells

Abstract

In this paper, a linearly conforming radial point interpolation method (LC-RPIM) is presented for the linear analysis of shells. The first order shear deformation shell theory is adopted, and the radial and polynomial basis functions are employed to construct the shape functions. A strain smoothing stabilization technique for nodal integration is used to restore the conformability and to improve the accuracy. Convergence studies are performed in terms of the number of nodes and the nodal distribution patterns, including the regular distribution and the irregular distribution. Comparisons are made with the existing results available in the literature and good agreements are obtained. The numerical examples have demonstrated that the present approach provides very stable and accurate results and effectively eliminates the membrane locking and shear locking in shell problems. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.