Improving an accurate thin plate element

Abstract The accurate 9 df thin plate finite element of Mohr was originally reported to experience ‘numerical precision difficulty’ in some cases [1], resulting in slight loss in accuracy (1 or 2%). The element is thoroughly tested here with 8 dp computation and found to give excellent results without difficulty. Further improvement in results is then obtained using a penalty factor approach to enforce the constraint ∂Φ x ∂y = ∂Φ y ∂x and by using approximate consistent loads.