Sensitivity analysis with plate and shell finite elements

This paper addresses the problem of calculating sensitivity data by direct methods for isoparametric plate or shell elements. Sensitivity parameters of interest include intrinsic properties such as material modulus and plate thickness, as well as geometry variables which influence the size and shape of a structure. The sensitivity calculation therefore must consider the parametric mapping within an element, as well as the influence of geometric variables on the orientation of an element in space. The methods presented specialize directly to continuum elements, in which the co‐ordinate transformation is omitted, or to simple structural members situated arbitrarily in space. Numerical examples are presented which illustrate the accuracy of the proposed techniques, and the effect of discretization error on computed sensitivities.