Reply To: what is the best way to apply shear stress to a shell 181 element?

[peteroznewman]

Here are some SHELL181 elements being loaded with some in-plane XY shear stress.

I’m guessing that you want to apply shear stress through the thickness of the shell element.

One approach is to convert the geometry to a thin solid and mesh with hex elements. Put at least two quadratic or four linear hex elements through the thickness (say the Z axis in this example). Apply a force in the +X direction to the bottom (-Z) surface and apply the same force in the -X direction to the top (+Z) surface.  Now you have created through thickness XZ shear stress in the solid hex elements.

Another approach is to convert the problem to layered composite laminate shell elements. You can have many layers through the thickness of the shell element. Build it with ACP(Pre) and define 10 layers with a material such as unidirectional carbon fiber and assign the angles of the fibers in each layer. Apply a force to the edge in the image above in the Z direction to bend the 2D plate. That will create in-plane interlamina shear stresses that can be output. The largest shear stress is between layers 1 and 2 and between layers 9 and 10 in this example.