Dear Ayad

i think solid element is used for through-thickness stresses.

good luck

Dear Raafat

Is assigning integration points (IP) help to define the thickness of the plate?

Will it help me to extract the through-thickness stresses?

Dear Ayad,

One should always aim to use shell elements as they offer a huge time save since they allow the modelling of thin features with relatively much fewer elements than solid elements. They are also easier to mesh and less prone negative Jacobian errors which might occur when using extremely thin solid features. 

However, the shell elements are limited to features which are really thin. As a rule of thumb, a good approximation is to use shell elements if the thickness of the body is at least 20 times less than the span.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes

Dear Messaoud

I have a plate (50x100)mm2 where the thickness is 1.80mm

Someone told me that this shell element wont be able to show through-thickness stresses

He did not give any explaination to that , So I want to know if this is true?

Thanks

Dear Ayad,

Why don't You compare some results of models, one where You use solid elements, and second where You may use shell. Build some simple (maybe cantilever beam) model and check it. 

I also suggest You to find out what kind of element behaviour You choose? I use ANSYS, and for beams or plates which vibrates (mainly bending) I use "plane stress" option.

Wish You all the best with FE simulation.

Kind regards

Radek

Dear Ayad,

It seems to me you need to use solid elements in your model. 

Best wishes

Dear Ayad,

ABAQUS has special finite elements - continuum (solid) shell elements (SC8R and SC8RT). They account the change in shell thickness and this elements are appropriate for implicit and explicit analysis. 

you have to model with C3D8R elements. if your plate is highly subjected to bending, maintain more than 3 element sets in thickness directions. or you can use quadratic elements. since quadratic elements, C3D20R elements take large computer cost, better to use C3D10 elements.

Dear Radosław

its suppose to be "plate strain"

 Dear Ivo

Is continuum (solid) shell elements suitable for large rotation and strain

I want to bend a thin plate 90 deg to form a section

Yes, ABAQUS recommends as one of the possible solutions for geometric non-linearity. SC8R is not shown, but he is one of the most flexible.

Dear Ayad,

It all depends on the physics of your problem and degree of accuracy desired. Shell elements can indeed be used. But you have to consider that they formulation rely heavily on strict hypothesis in the thickness direction. Solid elements do not need these hypothesis, but they are prone to blocking and other unwanted deformations for very thin structures. That is why "solid-shell" (aka thick-shell) formulations are promising tools for modeling thin shells. Their formulation is more complex compared to classic bricks, but they need only one FE in the thickness direction.

I used a solid-shell formulation in my PhD thesis to simulate a forming process with strong stress gradients through the thickness, under localized contact. The shell element gave good predictions in terms of the deformation, but not as good as solid-shell elements. Classic bricks needed several layers through the thickness, increasing the CPU time heavily. You can check my thesis for more information.

Regards,

Carlos.

If you use 3D shell with a plane stress assumption then it will give you zero stress in the thickness direction.