An isoparametric plate shell element of 16 nodes and 40 degrees of freedom is developed in this paper directly from 3-D elastic theories. In order to overcome the difficulties caused by straightforward use of a 3-D formulation, the relative displacement method is introduced. For curved shell elements, the use of the orthogonal curvilinear co-ordinate system greatly reduces the computer effort. The new element can conveniently solve shell problems with variable thicknesses and also easily link with other finite elements using displacement d.o.f. such as 8-node to 21-node 3-D elements. Numerical examples demonstrate the efficiency of the element.