Accurate equations for laminated composite deep thick shells

This paper derives accurate equations of elastic deformation for laminated composite deep, thick shells. The equations include shells with a pre-twist and accurate force and moment resultants which are considerably different than those used for plates. This is due to the fact that the stresses over the thickness of the shell have to be integrated on a trapezoidal-like cross-section of a shell element to obtain the stress resultants, Numerical results are obtained and showed that accurate stress resultants are needed for laminated composite deep thick shells, especially if the curvature is not spherical. A consistent set of equations of motion, energy functionals and boundary conditions are also derived. These may be used in obtaining exact solutions or approximate ones like the Ritz or finite element methods. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.