High order finite elements for shells E. Rank a,* , A. D ¨ uster a , V. N¨ ubel a , K. Preusch b , O.T. Bruhns b a Lehrstuhl f¨ ur Bauinformatik, Fakult¨ at f¨ ur Bauingenieur- und Vermessungswesen, Technische Universit¨ at M¨ unchen, Germany b Lehrstuhl f¨ ur Technische Mechanik, Institut f¨ ur Mechanik, Fakult¨ at f¨ ur Bauingenieurwesen, Ruhr-Universit¨ at Bochum, Germany Abstract In this article the p-version finite element method is applied to thin-walled structures. Two different hierarchic element formulations are compared, a shell approach as well as a shell- like, solid formulation. Both approaches are compared for linear elastic and elastoplastic problems. Special emphasis is placed on the efficiency as well as on determining the area of application for both formulations. Key words: p-FEM, shells, hierarchic finite elements, anisotropic finite elements, elastoplasticity PACS: * Lehrstuhl f¨ ur Bauinformatik, Fakult¨ at f¨ ur Bauingenieur- und Vermessungswesen, Tech- nische Universit¨ at M¨ unchen, Arcisstr. 21, 80290 M¨ unchen, Germany Preprint submitted to Elsevier Science 10 March 2004