Static and dynamic behaviour of geometrically non-linear shell structures

ABSTRACTPhD ThesisSTATIC AND DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF GEOMETR CALLY NON-LINEARSHELL STRUCTURESCengiz POLATFırat UniversityGraduate School of Natural and Applied SciencesDepartment of Civil Engineering2006, Page: 101In this thesis, static and dynamic behaviour of geometrically non-linear shell structureswas investigated. Firstly, formulation of incremental continuum mechanics based on TotalLagrangian approach and the finite element formulation for shells was given. In the study two-,three- and four-node axisymmetric shell elements were used for axisymmetric shells, and nine-and sixteen-node quadrilateral shell elements were used for general shells. Mindlin-Reissnerapproach was used for including transverse shear effects in the formulations. Reduced andselective integration schemes were employed to alleviate transverse shear locking. Arc-lengthmethod was used to obtain the post-buckling equilibrium path of the structural system.Newmark?s average acceleration method was used for dynamic analysis. As the thickness ofshell decrease relatively, it tends to snap-through behaviour. Furthermore, much moredecreasing of the thickness leads to snap-back behaviour. Period shortening and amplitudevariation has occurred in the non-linear behaviour of shells subjected to dynamic uniform stepload with respect to linear case.Keywords: Axisymmetric shell, General shell, Arc-length method, Non-linear static anddynamic analysis.