EAS‐elements for two‐dimensional, three‐dimensional, plate and shell structures and their equivalence to HR‐elements

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The enhanced assumed strain (EAS) method, recently proposed by Simo and Rifai13, is used to develop new four‐node membrane, plate and shell elements and eight‐node solid elements. The equivalence of certain EAS‐elements with Hellinger‐Reissner (HR) elements is discussed. For instance, the seven‐parameter element EAS‐7 with 2 × 2 integration is identical to the HR‐element of Pian and Sumihara2. Eight‐node solid elements which are free of volumetric locking and four‐node shell elements which have an improved membrane and bending behaviour, compared to the Bathe‐Dvorkin shell element7, are introduced. Numerical tests for linear elastic problems show an improved performance of the EAS‐elements.