An eight-node curvilinear differential quadrature formulation for Reissner/Mindlin plates

A first endeavour to exploit the differential quadrature (DQ) method as a simple, accurate and efficient numerical technique for the bending of quadrilateral Reissner/Mindlin plates with curvilinear boundaries is made. The curvilinear quadrilateral is mapped onto a square domain by using the geometric coordinate transformation. This geometric mapping technique is employed to transform the governing differential equations and boundary conditions of the problem from the physical domain onto the computational domain. The DQ procedures are then applied to discretise the transformed set of differential equations and boundary conditions into a set of linear algebraic equations. The numerical solutions to the problem are obtained by solving this set of linear algebraic equations. Examples illustrating the accuracy and convergence of the DQ method for Reissner/Mindlin plates with curvilinear boundaries are presented. The great development potential of the DQ method as an alternative to other approximate techniques for solving problems related to engineering sciences and structural mechanics is exploited in the present study.