Development of a new plate bending element with excellent reduction in shear locking

Shear locking is one of the big problems confronting plate bending elements. In this research a new element was developed in which shear locking is reduced to an acceptable rang. The element is a serendipity type with 16- nodes at the boundaries plus one node at the center of the element. It is called QUS-17. Transverse shear is included in the formulation which means that it is Mindlin type plate bending element. This element was subjected to patch test and passed it successfully. It was implemented in six examples and the results were compared with other elements of its rank. It proved that its behavior in reducing shear locking is better than other elements which gave it a privilege to be used in thick and thin plate analysis at the same time. (authors). 8 refs., 14 figs., 4 tabs