Recent developments in the formulation of efficient finite elements for dynamically loaded shell structures are studied. The efficiency and the behaviour of this element type are compared with existing shell and solid elements implemented in the same program system. Hourglass resisting algorithms are reviewed and formulated, and parameter studies are carried out. A new contact interface algorithm for dynamic analysis with explicit integration is presented. The development of the defence node algorithm permits contact constraints based on the Lagrange multiplier method to be introduced in dynamic analysis with explicit integration.
Numerical tests show the good performance of the developed algorithms.
A new global search method for general contacting systems is developed and implemented in a computer program together with the abovementioned contact interface algorithm. The concept of position codes for efficient global contact searching and the local search procedure used are presented. Numerical experiments are performed in order to examine the behaviour of the algorithms in different aspects.