GEOMETRICALLY NONLINEAR-ANALYSIS OF DOUBLY CURVED LAMINATED AND SANDWICH FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITE SHELLS WITH A HIGHER-ORDER THEORY AND C-DEGREES FINITE-ELEMENTS

Abstract

An isoparametric C-degrees finite element formulation based on a higher order displacement model for linear and geometrically non-linear analysis (that accounts for large displacements in the sense of von Karman) of doubly curved laminated composite and sandwich shells under transverse loads is presented. The displacement model accounts for cubic and constant variation of tangential and transverse displacement components respectively through the shell thickness. The assumed displacement model eliminates the use of shear correction coefficients. The discrete element chosen is a nine-noded quadrilateral element with nine degrees of freedom per node. The accuracy of the formulation is then established by comparing the present results with the available analytical closed-form solutions, three-dimensional elasticity solutions and other finite element solutions.