A RECTANGULAR FINITE-ELEMENT FOR ANALYZING COMPOSITE MULTILAYERED SHALLOW SHELLS IN STATICS, VIBRATION AND BUCKLING

This paper presents a new 32-degree-of-freedom finite clement of multilayered composite, moderately thick, shallow shells. The element is a four-node C1 rectanplar element and is built from standard interpolations but with a new kind of kinematics which allows us to exactly ensure the continuity conditions for displacements and stresses at the interfaces between the layers of a laminated structure and the boundary conditions at the upper and lower surfaces of the shell. The transverse shear deformation which is represented by cosine functions is of a higher order and allows us to avoid shear correction factors. The element is evaluated on standard problems and in comparison with exact three-dimensional and analytical solutions for multilayered plates and shells in statics, vibrations and stability.