Abstract
In this thesis, Mindlin plate element with nine nodes and three degrees-of-freedom at each node is formulated and is employed in eigen-analysis of a rectangular plates in order to alleviate locking phenomenon of eigenvalues. Eigenvalues and their modes may be locked if conventional $C_{0}$-isoparametric element is used. In order to reduce stiffness locking phenomenon, two methods (1, the general reduced and selective integration, 2, the new element that use of modified shape function) are studied. Additionally in order to reduce the error due to mass matrix, two mass matrixes (1, Gauss-Legendre mass matrix, 2, Gauss-Lobatto mass matrix) are considered. The results of eigen-analysis for two models (the square plate with all edges simply-supported and all edges built-in), computed by two methods for stiffness matrix and by two mass matrixes are compared with theoretical solutions and conventional numerical solutions. These comparisons show that the performance of the two methods with Gauss-Lobatto mass matrix is better than that of the conventional plate element. But, by considering the spurious rigid body motions, the element which employs modified shape function with full integration and Gauss-Lobatto mass matrix can elevate the accuracy and convergence of numerical solutions.
