A three-dimensional asymptotic analysis of anisotropic inhomogeneous and laminated cylindrical shells (Q1814905)

An asymptotics for anisotropic inhomogeneous cylindrical shells is formulated on the basis of three-dimensional elasticity without a priori assumptions. The inhomogeneities are considered varying in the radial direction, thus including the important case of laminated composite shells in which the material properties are piecewisely constant through the thickness. By using asymptotic expansion and successive integration, we show that the asymptotic theory gives rise to two-dimensional shell equations, in form similar to those in the classical laminated shell theory, at each level of approximation. The performance of the theory is illustrated by comparing the asymptotic solutions with the available numerical results for a homogeneous and for a multilayered cross-ply cylindrical shell under lateral loads.