Benchmark tests of MITC triangular shell elements

In this paper, we compare and assess the performance of the standard 3- and 6-node MITC shell elements (Lee and Bathe 2004) with the recently developed MITC triangular elements (Lee et al. 2014, Jeon et al. 2014, Jun et al. 2018) which were based on the partitions of unity approximation, bubble node, or both. The convergence behavior of the shell elements are measured in well-known benchmark tests; four plane stress tests (mesh distortion test, cantilever beam, Cook's skew beam, and MacNeal beam), two plate tests (Morley's skew plate and circular plate), and six shell tests (curved beam, twisted beam, pinched cylinder, hemispherical shells with or without hole, and Scordelis-Lo roof). To precisely compare and evaluate the solution accuracy of the shell elements, different triangular mesh patterns and distorted element mesh are adopted in the benchmark problems. All shell finite elements considered pass the basic tests; namely, the isotropy, the patch, and the zero energy mode tests.