A differential quadrature hierarchical finite element method and its applications to vibration and bending of Mindlin plates with curvilinear domains

A differential quadrature hierarchical finite element method (DQHFEM) is proposed by expressing the hierarchical finite element method matrices in similar form as in the differential quadrature finite element method and introducing interpolation basis on the boundary of hierarchical finite element method elements. The DQHFEM is similar as the fixed interface mode synthesis method but the DQHFEM does not need modal analysis. The DQHFEM with non-uniform rational B-splines elements were shown to accomplish similar destination as the isogeometric analysis. Three key points that determine the accuracy, efficiency and convergence of DQHFEM were addressed, namely, (1) the Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre points should be used as nodes, (2) the recursion formula should be used to compute high-order orthogonal polynomials, and (3) the separation variable feature of the basis should be used to save computational cost. Numerical comparison and convergence studies of the DQHFEM were carried out by comparing the DQHFEM results for vibration and bending of Mindlin plates with available exact or highly accurate approximate results in literatures. The DQHFEM can present highly accurate results using only a few sampling points. Meanwhile, the order of the DQHFEM can be as high as needed for high-frequency vibration analysis. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.