A four‐node plate bending element based on Mindlin/Reissner plate theory and a mixed interpolation

This communication discusses a 4-node plate bending element for linear elastic analysis which is obtained, as a special case, from a general nonlinear continuum mechanics based 4-node shell element formulation. The formulation of the plate element is presented and the results of various example solutions are given that yield insight into the predictive capability of the plate (and shell) element.