Influence of imperfect interfaces on bending and vibration of laminated composite shells

This paper is devoted to modeling elastic behavior of laminated composite s hells, with special emphasis on incorporating interfacial imperfection. The conditions of imposing traction continuity and displacement jump across ea ch interface are used to model imperfect interfaces. Vanishing transverse s hear stresses on two free surfaces of a shell eliminate the need for shear correction factors. A linear theory underlying elastostatics and kinetics o f laminated composite shells in a general configuration is presented from H amilton's principle. In the special case of vanishing interfacial parameter s, this theory reduces to the conventional third-order zigzag theory for pe rfectly bonded laminated shells. Numerical results for bending and vibratio n problems of laminated circular cylindrical panels are tabulated and plott ed to indicate the influence of the interfacial imperfection. (C) 2000 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.