In the area of shell analysis, we have studied some generic physical behaviours of shells with specific emphasis on boundary and internal layers as the thickness of the shell decreases. Furthermore, we have studied how best to evaluate general finite element schemes when considering the variety of shell behaviours. To demonstrate the developments, a membrane-dominated problem and a bending-dominated problem have been solved. When proper care is taken in meshing boundary and internal layers, optimal convergence rates to the reference solutions are observed with the MITC4 shell element.

In the area of fluid flow analysis, we are developing a new solution approach - a flow-condition-based interpolation, FCBI, finite element scheme - to solve high Reynolds number incompressible fluid flows. This scheme has a number of advantages as discussed and demonstrated in the paper, including that conservation of mass and momentum is satisfied locally and no artificial parameter is used for stabilization. The procedure has been developed for the solution of fluid flows fully coupled with shells and other structures. The capability is illustrated by the solution of some example problems.

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