Get to know the MITC4 Shell Element Class

Description of the element's Class; its constructor and Public Methods that can be used.

Mesh Convergence & Aircraft Wing Results

Hemispherical Shell Benchmark: A rigorous convergence test with mesh refinement for testing element's accuracy with warped shell element configurations under large rotations analysis.

Designed to push the limits of element performance under extreme warping, transverse shear, and bending loads.

The MITC4 shell element API achieves fast convergence with mesh refinement.

Explore the gallery for an in-depth analysis of the mesh convergence results and post-processing in our GUI.

Click on the gallery below for the MITC4 Shell API convergence results and post-processing on our GUI for the Hemispherical Shell example.

Aircraft Wing linear elastic simulation with the MITC4 shell API

An application example of the MITC4 Shell API is presented through the linear elastic simulation of an aircraft wing. The wing is fixed at the root (fuselage) and subjected to impulse loading at the landing gear attachment point.

This simulation utilized our free C++ linear elastic template, with pre-processing and post-processing performed using our GUI. The results are showcased in the image gallery below.

Constituents of the API

Stiffness Matrix (available now)

Stiffness matrix for the MITC4 shell element. Required for linear and nonlinear analysis.

B-Matrix (available now)

Shell element with 4 nodes and full in-plane quadrature rule. User-defined number of integration points along the thickness direction of the shell. Reissner-Mindlin formulation with ANS to alleviate transverse shear locking. Ideal for thin shell simulations.

Geometric Stiffness Matrix (available soon)

Geometric (Initial Stresses) Stiffness matrix for the MITC4 shell element. It is required for nonlinear analysis with implicit time integration scheme.

The Geometric Stiffness matrix is currently being tested and will be available for this API soon.

Internal Force (available soon)

Internal Force vector for the MITC4 shell element. Critical for nonlinear analysis for both explicit and implicit time integration schemes.

The Internal Force vector is currently being tested and will be available for this API soon.

Strain Tensor (available now)

Strain tensor at all integration points of the element. The strain tensor can be used for different type of constitutive models.

Axes Rotation at the GPs (available now)

Rotation of local axes at the Gauss Points. Important for nonlinear co-rotational analysis, e.g. rotation of planar plastic anisotropic axes, rotation of composites ply axes at the GPs.

Academic (Individual) subscription

30-days: £9.99

Terms & Conditions for Academic Software License

Free for Academic/Individual subscription

We will provide a C++ template demonstrating the use of our API for linear elastic analysis for a subscription of one year or above. This template leverages key API components, including the Stiffness Matrix and Strain Tensor, evaluated at all integration points of the element.

The template incorporates multi-threading with OpenMP to accelerate the computation of the Stiffness Matrix and the Strain Tensor, delivering performance gains of approximately 2.5x when using 6 threads.

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Fill and submit this form before subscribing this API. Our team will then coordinate with you for the installation of the API and for generating the license for your machine.

We will not be able to sell you the API if the Terms & Conditions are not accepted upon submission of this form.

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Academic/Individual Subscription

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Terms & Conditions for Industry Software License

Available with Business subscription

We have a comprehensive pre-processor and post-processor GUI for our APIs. The pre-processor imports mesh data and generates the input data for the API. The post-processor enables the visualisation of results. More details for the GUI can be found here.

A 36-month business subscription includes one complimentary GUI license. Even with multiple API licenses subscribed, the customer is eligible for only one free GUI license.

We offer comprehensive support for our APIs, along with free updates throughout the subscription period.

Small Business subscription

(revenue less or equal than $1,000,000.0 USD/year)

Large Business subscription

(revenue greater than $1,000,000.0 USD/year)

Fill the form for subscribing this API.

Fill and submit this form before subscribing this API. Our team will then coordinate with you for the installation of the API and for generating the license for your machine.

We will not be able to sell you the API if the Terms & Conditions are not accepted upon submission of this form.

3-years: £199.9

1-year: £199.9

3-years: £399.9

Business Subscription