Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
A further element for the Matrix Displacement method discussed in the author’s Main Lecture was a parallelogram or arbitrary anisotropy under plane stress. As for the other elements analysed in the preceding technical notes of this series, we assign to the parallelogram a linear variation of the strain along the edges. This is a more general specification of the strain pattern than for the parallelogram in ref. 2. Consequently, it is necessary to introduce additional nodal points in order to account for the increased number of kinematic freedoms. In the present case eight nodal points are provided as against four in the original model. The procedure is best understood in