DEFORMATIONAL BOUNDARY QUANTITIES IN THE NONLINEAR-THEORY OF SHELLS WITH TRANSVERSE SHEARS

A thorough analysis is presented of the non linear deformation of the shell lateral boundary surface. The deformation is compatible with the linear distribution. of displacements across the shell thickness. It is found that the total rotation of the boundary element can be define d in two ways, by means of two alternative orthonormal triads associat ed with the deformed shell lateral boundary surface. For both definiti ons of the rotation, exact expressions for three components of the vec tor of change of curvature of the boundary contour are derived in term s of shelf strain measures. These expressions are then consistently re duced for several particular shell theories. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.