Abstract
A new numerical method for rectangular plate bending analysis is proposed. The present method is based on the following two assumptions as (1) use of the modified potential energy principle, (2) and extension of general idea of the displacement function for the finite element method, in which the displacement of a element is expressed as a function of nodal displacement parameters of its element and the adjacent element. This method may be useful for reduction of total numbers of the displacement parameters and easily applied for the analysis of shallow shells under distributed loads.
