SPLINE FINITE ELEMENT FOR GEOMETRIC NONLINEAR ANALYSIS

This paper aims at introducing a new geometric nonlinear spline finite element method (spline FEM) according to the principles of spline functions. The integral among two or three B-spline functions can be expressed in evidence by the integral characteristics of spline functions, thusly the element stiffness matrix can be obtained more easily than using the traditional FEM whose computing process is complicated and time-consuming. And it retains advantages of high-precision, small inputs, and strong continuity. In contrast to traditional FEM which employs the Gauss quadrature to gain results on Gauss points, the variables are gained on nodal points in the new spline FEM. This is convenient and accurate in the pre- and post-processing.