Geometrically nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of shells and plates using the eight-node hexahedral element with one-point quadrature

An eight-node hexahedral isoparametric finite element with uniform reduced integration, which is free of volumetric and shear locking and has no spurious singular modes, is implemented in this work for geometrically nonlinear static and dynamic structural analysis. In the element formulation, one-point quadrature is used, so that the element tangent stiffness matrix is given explicitly and computational time is substantially reduced in nonlinear analysis. Numerical examples verify the computational efficiency and the potential of the three-dimensional element in the analysis of shells, plates and beams undergoing large displacements and rotations.