On mapping irregular plates without four corners into a regular domain.

In structural analysis, the technique of mapping an irregular plate into a regular domain is commonly used. When the irregular plate does not have four corners, some important issues on the geometric mapping should be taken care of and are clearly pointed out herein for the first time. Besides, general shape functions of 12-node Serendipity finite element with nodes of any type are proposed to improve the accuracy of geometric mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]