Analysis of a Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Koiter Shell

Abstract. We present an analysis for a mixed finite element method for the bending problem of Koiter shell. We derive an error estimate showing that when the geometrical coefficients of the shell mid-surface satisfy certain conditions the finite element method has the optimal order of accuracy, which is uniform with respect to the shell thickness. Generally, the error estimate shows how the accuracy is affected by the shell geometry and thickness. It suggests that to achieve optimal rate of convergence, the triangulation should be properly refined in regions where the shell geometry changes dramatically. The analysis is carried out for a balanced method in which the normal component of displacement is approximated by discontinuous piecewise cubic polynomials, while the tangential components are approximated by discontinuous piecewise quadratic polynomials, with some enrichment on elements that have edges on the free boundary. Components of the membrane stress are approximated by continuous piecewise linear functions.