Study of bending of laminated composite shells. Part I: shells without a cutout

The bending behaviour of fibre reinforced plastic laminated shells without a cutout has been studied using the finite element method based on a higher -order shear deformation theory. The higher-order shear deformation theory is derived by assuming that the transverse displacement is constant through the thickness of the shell. An eight-noded degenerated isoparametric shell element is considered with nine degrees of freedom at each node. Results a re presented showing the variation of deflection and stresses in orthotropi c and laminated symmetric/anti-symmetric spherical shell panels with simply supported and clamped boundary conditions subjected to uniform normal pres sure. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.