Isogeometric Bézier dual mortaring: The Kirchhoff–Love shell problem

In this paper we develop an isogeometric Bézier dual mortar method for coupling multi-patch Kirchhoff–Love shell structures. The proposed approach weakly enforces the continuity of the solution at patch interfaces through a dual mortar method and can be applied to both conforming and non-conforming discretizations. As the employed dual basis functions have local supports and satisfy the biorthogonality property, the resulting stiffness matrix is sparse. In addition, the coupling accuracy is optimal because the dual basis possesses the polynomial reproduction property. We also formulate the continuity constraints through the Rodrigues’ rotation operator which gives a unified framework for coupling patches that are intersected with G1 continuity as well as patches that meet at a kink. Several linear and nonlinear examples demonstrated the performance and robustness of the proposed coupling techniques. •An Bézier dual mortar method is developed for coupling Kirchhoff–Love shells•Optimal coupling accuracy is ensured by the enriched Bézier dual basis functions•No extra variables are introduced and the resulting linear system remains sparse•The Rodrigues’ rotation operator is used to formulate the continuity constraints•The constraint formulation is general for G1-continuous features as well as kinks