A mixed finite element for shell model with free edge boundary conditions Part 3. Numerical aspects Original Research Article

The mixed formulation for shells, which is presented here, is based on Koiterʹs model for thin elastic shells, the Kirchhoff-Loveʹs kinematical relations being ensured through the use of Lagrange multipliers. After a brief recall of the mixed variational formulation, we give an appropriate choice for finite elements approximation. Then, we develop some aspects, related to geometry approximation and numerical implementation. In particular, in order to overcome membrane locking, improvements are suggested and we check the good behaviour of this formulation on some classical examples of published papers.