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SUMMARYIn this paper, we demonstrate the use of two conceptual principles, the field-consistency requirement and the edge-consistency requirement, as the basis for deriving a 4-noded quadrilateral plate bending element based on Mindlin plate theory using Jacobean transformations only. The derivation is now free of the use of such devices as strain-interpolation points and Hrennikoff strain reference lines, etc., which have been the basis for many recent formulations of this element. The shear strain constraints are now consistently defined within the element domain, and 'tangential' shear strains are consistently matched at element boundaries so that there is no locking even under extreme dist0rtion-e.g. even when two nodes are collapsed so that the quadrilateral becomes a triangle. Numerical experiments show that this synthesis produces an element that should be identical to other recent formulations of this element based on tensorial transformations or on shear constraint condensation on the edges, but now given a more complete and formal logical basis.

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