A 4-node 3D-shell element to model shell surface tractions and incompressible behavior

We present in this paper a shell element that models the three-dimensional (3D) effects of surface tractions, like needed when a shell is confined between other solid media. The element is the widely used MITC4 shell element enriched by the use of a fully 3D stress–strain description, appropriate through-the-thickness displacements to model surface tractions, and pressure degrees of freedom for incompressible analyses. The element formulation avoids instabilities and ill-conditioning. Various example solutions are presented to illustrate the capabilities of the element.