An isogeometric method for the Reissner-Mindlin plate bending problem

We present a new isogeometric method for the discretization of the Reissner-Mindlin plate bending problem. The proposed scheme follows a recent theoretical framework that makes possible the construction of a space of smooth discrete deflections Wry and a space of smooth discrete rotations Theta(h) such that the Kirchhoff constraint is exactly satisfied at the limit. Therefore we obtain a formulation which is natural from the theoretical/mechanical viewpoint and locking-free by construction. We prove that the method is uniformly stable and satisfies optimal convergence estimates. Finally, the theoretical results are fully supported by numerical tests.