EXPLICIT SIMULATIONS WITH REDUCED INTEGRATION SOLID-SHELL ELEMENTS: STABILIZATION AND SELECTIVE MASS SCALING

Explicit approaches are usually preferred for the simulation of thin walled struc- tural problems, which are often highly nonlinear due to large deformations and possible ma- terial inelasticity. Solid-shell elements can describe the correct thickness geometry and are therefore more suitable than standard shell elements for the implementation of complex 3D material models. However, they include a too simple kinematic formulation leading to ar- tificial stiffening phenomena called locking. To overcome this problem computationally ex- pensive corrections, e.g. introducing enhanced strains, are required which suggest the use of reduced integration with hourglass stabilization. Furthermore, a high element maximum eigenfrequency is implied by the small thickness, leading to overly small stable time-steps. These two issues are addressed in this paper where a stabilized reduced integration solid- shell element and a selective mass scaling technique for the reduction of the maximum eigen- frequency are proposed.