Book Description

This book aims to present in depth several Higher-order Shear Deformation Theories (HSDTs) by means of a unified approach for the mechanical analysis of doubly-curved shell structures made of anisotropic and composite materials. In particular, the strong and weak formulations of the corresponding governing equations are discussed and illustrated. The approach presented in this volume is completely general and represents a valid tool to investigate the structural behavior of many arbitrarily shaped structures. An isogeometric mapping procedure is also illustrated to this aim. Special attention is given also to advanced and innovative constituents, such as Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), Variable Angle Tow (VAT) composites and Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs). In addition, several numerical applications are developed to support the theoretical models. Accurate, efficient and reliable numerical techniques able to approximate both derivatives and integrals are presented, which are respectively the Differential Quadrature (DQ) and Integral Quadrature (IQ) methods. Finally, two numerical techniques, named Strong Formulation Finite Element Method (SFEM) and Weak Formulation Finite Element Method (WFEM), are developed to deal with multi-element domains characterized by arbitrary shapes and discontinuities.