On the theories used for the wave propagation in laminated composite thin elastic shells (Q759512)

In this paper, the problem of propagation of free harmonic waves in cross-ply laminated thin elastic shells is considered. For this problem, a theoretical unification of the most commonly used, in physical and engineering applications, thin shell theories which take into consideration transverse shear deformation effects is presented. In more detail, the problem is formulated in such a way that by using some tracers, which have the form of Kronecker deltas, the obtained stress- strain relations, constitutive equations and equations of motion produce, as special cases, the corresponding relations and equations of the transverse shear deformable analogs of the Donnell, Love and Sanders theories. Using an eigenvalue form solution of the equation of motion, a comparison of corresponding numerical results obtained on the basis of all of the afore-mentioned theories is made. Comparisons with corresponding results obtained on the basis of the classical thin shell theories of Donnell, Love, Sanders and Flügge are also made.