Abstract: Based on combination of two variational principles, a nonconforming stabilized finite element method is presented for the Reissner-Mindlin plates. The method is convergent when the finite element space is energy-compatible. Error estimates are derived. In particular, three finite element spaces are applied in the computation. Numerical results show that the method is insensitive to the mesh distortion and has better performence than the MITC4 and DKQ methods. With properly chosen parameters, high accuracy can be obtained at coarse meshes.

Key words: Reissner-Mindlin plate, energy-compatibility,combined FEM, nonconforming finite element