A Family of ${C}^0$ Finite Elements For Kirchhoff Plates I: Error Analysis

A new finite element formulation for the Kirchhoff plate model is presented. The method is a displacement formulation with the deflection and the rotation vector as unknowns, and it is based on ideas stemming from a stabilized method for the Reissner-Mindlin model [R. Stenberg, in Asymptotic Methods for Elastic Structures, P. Ciarlet, L. Trabucho, and J. M. Viano, eds., de Gruyter, Berlin, 1995] and a method to treat a free boundary [P. Destuynder and T. Nevers, RAIRO Modél. Math. Anal. Numér., 22 (1988), pp. 217-242]. Optimal a priori and a posteriori error estimates are derived.