FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF HYPERELASTIC THIN SHELLS WITH LARGE STRAINS

The objective of this contribution is the development of theoretical a nd numerical models applicable to large strain analysis of hyperelasti c shells confining particular attention to incompressible materials. T he theoretical model is developed on the basis of a quadratic displace ment approximation in thickness coordinate by neglecting transverse sh ear strains. In the case of incompressible materials this leads to a t hree-parametric theory governed solely by mid-surface displacements. T he material incompressibility is expressed by two equivalent equation sets considered at the element level as subsidiary conditions. For the simulation of nonlinear material behaviour the Mooney-Rivlin model is adopted including neo-Hookean materials as a special case. After tran sformation of nonlinear relations into incremental formulation doubly curved triangular and quadrilateral elements are developed via the dis placement method. Finally, examples are given to demonstrate the abili ty of these models in dealing with large strain as well as finite rota tion shell problems.