A new refined hyperbolic shear deformation theory for laminated composite spherical shells

In this study, a new refined hyperbolic shear deformation theory (RHSDT) is developed using an equivalent single -layer shell displacement model for the static bending and free vibration response of cross-ply laminated composite spherical shells. It is based on a new kinematic in which the transverse displacement is approximated as a sum of the bending and shear components, leading to a reduction of the number of unknown functions and governing equations. The proposed theory uses the hyperbolic shape function to account for an appropriate distribution of the transverse shear strains through the thickness and satisfies the boundary conditions on the shell surfaces without requiring any shear correction factors. The shell governing equations for this study are derived in terms of displacement from Hamilton's principle and solved via a Navier-type analytical procedure. The validity and high accuracy of the present theory are ascertained by comparing the obtained numerical results of displacements, stresses, and natural frequencies with their counterparts generated by some higher-order shear deformation theories. Further, a parametric study examines in detail the effect of both geometrical parameters (i.e., side-to-thickness ratio and curvature-radius-to-side ratio), on the bending and free vibration response of simply supported laminated spherical shells, which can be very useful for many modern engineering applications and their optimization design.