Plate and Shell Models
Plate and Shell Models
Robert Nzengwa
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vii
viii Acknowledgements
(R-M) (cf. [70, 93, 94]) have proven better efficiency than (K-L) on “moderately thin”
plates by calculating transverse shear stresses through the thickness. Nevertheless,
they do not predict pinch stress, and numerical calculations become inefficient when
the thickness tends to zero. Many other models were developed during the second half
of the twentieth century to overcome these difficulties, some more or less rigorous or
simply heuristic. Despite continuous improvements in these models or their mathe-
matical justification (see Naghdi [74], Koiter [62], Ciarlet et al. [30] and [31]), many
problems still remain open. In any way, the different mathematical approaches in
shell theory (double series, integration of 3D equations, multi-scale dilatation and
limit analysis, etc.) are continuously more elaborated and less familiar to structural
engineers. Because of the improvements in high-performance numerical methods
and the tremendous computing capacity of computers available nowadays, archi-
tects design structures with very sophisticated shapes and require a very high level
of reliability that structural engineers should respect. How to transmit these calcu-
lating methods based on new knowledge, to structural engineers who are very chilly
to highly elaborated mathematical theories, is a permanent challenge to researchers
and professors in applied mechanics. The aim of this textbook is to present to struc-
tural engineers models in shell theory, some of them deduced from 3D elasticity and
validated on benchmarks, in their variational form suitable for implementing Finite
Element Methods and numerical calculations. In order to avoid getting lost in unnec-
essary digressions, we refer the reader to specialized articles or books, concerning
demonstrations which are purely mathematical. On the other hand, we have taken
care to expose, if only succinctly, any demonstration likely to equip the reader on the
resolution of practical problems. Master’s students in physics, mechanics and math-
ematics will discover with wonder, we hope, the applications of certain concepts
which have been taught to them in a spirit of finesse and rigour. Practitioners in
structural design analysis, as for them, will find herein a panoply of results which
they will be satisfied to apply directly to analyse elastic shell structures.
This book is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to 3D and
2D curvilinear media. Essential notions on tensor algebra and differential geometry
of surfaces are treated. This chapter presents basic elements for the next chapters.
Chapter 2 is devoted to establishing the general equilibrium equations of shells. Kine-
matics deduced by Nzengwa et al. [87] from an asymptotic analysis of a multi-scale
dilatation (multiple scaling) of a 3D elastic shell problem was applied. In addition
to terms found in the classical K-L and R-M models, the equations contain also
terms related to the change of the third fundamental form of the shell’s mid-surface.
The energy impact of this tensor, called the Gauss deformation tensor, is remarkable
in numerical calculations presented in Chap. 5. Governing equations of transverse
shear and pinch stresses through-the-thickness are established. These equations are
ordinary differential equations defined in specific functional spaces with initial and
final conditions. Elastic dynamic analysis is studied in Chap. 3. Results obtained by
Nzengwa [87] and [88], deduced from the 3D equivalent problem, show the exis-
tence of very many inertia terms, generally neglected in classical thin shell theory.
Moreover, these additional terms contain and justify the corrective transverse inertia
Acknowledgements ix
Two appendices are added at the end of the text. The first appendix is devoted to
essential knowledge in 3D linear elasticity that has been used throughout the text.
The second appendix is a summary of the essential points of each chapter of the
textbook for fast learning of master’s research students or fast use of practitioners in
shell structures.
Throughout this document, we shall make use of the repeated index convention
in both curvilinear and Cartesian coordinate systems. Derivations will sometimes
be noted with the symbol “,” and will be understood in the classical sense or in the
sense of distribution of functional analysis, assuming that all the conditions for their
validity are met. The domains in Rn , n = 1, 2, 3 are deemed bounded and sufficiently
smooth. We shall make use of the spaces of square-integrable functions L2 () or
L2 (S) and sometimes with their first and second derivatives also square-integrable.
They will be equipped with their natural norms. Further notations will be indicated
throughout the document.
I want to thank my former students Nkongho A. Joseph, Feumo Achille Germain,
Ngatcha Ndengna Arno Roland, Djopkop Kouanang Landry and others, who, for
many years, have encouraged me to write this document. I thank particularly Feumo
Achille Germain and Ngatcha Ndengna Arno Roland who have spent a lot of time
formatting the text. I am indebted to Prof. Gabriel Nguetseng whose peer review
and suggestions led to the rearrangement of certain paragraphs. Finally, I especially
thank Prof. Philippe G. Ciarlet, who for the first time offered me the opportunity to
face the theory of shells.
Contents
1 Curvilinear Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Geometry of a 3D Curvilinear Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Parametrization and Covariant Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Metric Tensor, Line Element and Contravariant Base . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 Area Element, Volume Element and Change
of Variance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.4 Covariant Derivation and Christoffel Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.5 Strain Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.1.6 Equilibrium Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2 Surface Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.1 Parametrization, Covariant and Contravariant Bases,
Fundamental Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.2 2D Covariant Derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.3 Variation of Fundamental Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 Equilibrium Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.1 Geometry of a Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.1.1 Description and Covariant Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.1.2 Relations Between 3D and 2D Christoffel Symbols . . . . . . . 35
2.2 Euler’s Equations and Variational Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2.1 Variational Formulation of Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2.2 Thick Shells Euler’s Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.2.3 Calculations of Transverse Stresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.2.4 Best First-Order Model for Thick Shells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3 Dynamic Evolution of Shells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1 Dynamic Equilibrium Equation of the N-T Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1.1 Variational Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1.2 First-Order N-T Model Dynamic Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.1.3 Transverse Stress Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.2 Free Vibrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.2.1 Free Vibrations with Total Inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
xi
xii Contents
xv
xvi List of Figures