Triangular elements for Reissner-Mindlin plate.

A general method to construct locking free. Reissner-Mindlin plate elements is presented. According to this method the shear strain is replaced by its proper interpolation polynomial, which corresponds to the Kirchhoff conditions at the interpolation points as the thickness of plate tends to zero, so the element is locking free. We construct two triangular elements by this method—a 3-node element and a 6-node element. The numerical results are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]