In the context of the finite element method (FEM), the locking phenomenon worsens the coarse-mesh accuracy for problems in structural mechanics. With evolving CAD-based discretization techniques, smoother and better results are attainable owing to the richer approximation spaces of the solution fields. However, the issue of locking still exists. This results in the reinvention of unlocking techniques developed in the framework of FEM for CAD-based discretizations. With the ambition of arriving at an unlocking scheme that works directly, irrespective of the element shape, polynomial order, and discretization technique, two kinds of intrinsically locking-free formulations were developed for thin structures in the last decade. They are the hierarchic formulations (HF) [2, 3], and the mixed displacement (MD) method [1]. These methods avoid locking on a theoretical level before discretization. They also share the feature of equal-order interpolation of the unknown variables, allowing them to exploit the underlying function space used by the CAD geometry directly for simulations without any further modification. In this work, an overview of the HF and MD methods is provided. Subsequently, challenges coming along with these methods in comparison to the standard FEM and possible solutions against them are briefly outlined. Numerical examples in the context of shear-deformable beams, plates, and shells are demonstrated within the framework of FEM, spline-based discretizations including trimmed NURBS, collocation methods, and meshless methods. The main focus of the work will be to showcase the technique of alleviating shear locking and membrane locking independently of the discretization scheme. REFERENCES [1] S. Bieber, B. Oesterle, E. Ramm, M. Bischoff. A variational method to avoid locking—independent of the discretization scheme. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., Vol. 114, pp. 801–827, 2018. [2] R. Echter, B. Oesterle, M. Bischoff. A hierarchic family of isogeometric shell finite elements. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng., Vol. 254, pp. 170–180, 2013. [3] B. Oesterle, R. Sachse, E. Ramm, M. Bischoff. Hierarchic isogeometric large rotation shell elements including linearized transverse shear parametrization. Comput. Metho s Appl. Mech. Eng., Vol. 321, pp. 383–405, 2017.