Abstract:

A finite element model for the nonlinear analysis of laminated shell structures and through-thickness functionally graded shells will be presented. A tensor-based finite element formulation is used to describe the deformation and constitutive laws of a shell in a natural and simple way by using curvilinear coordinates. In addition, a family of high-order elements with Lagrangian interpolations is used to avoid membrane and shear locking; no mixed interpolations are employed. A first-order shell theory with seven parameters is derived with exact nonlinear deformations and under the framework of the Lagrangian description. This approach takes into account thickness changes and, therefore, 3D constitutive equations are utilized. Numerical comparisons of the present results with those found in the literature for typical benchmark problems involving isotropic and laminated composite plates and shells as well as functionally graded plates and shells are found to be excellent. These results show the validity of the developed finite element model. Moreover, the simplicity of this approach makes it attractive for applications in contact mechanics and damage propagation in shells.

Acknowledgement. The research results reported herein were obtained by Dr. Roman Arciniega, a Ph. D. student of Prof. Reddy.

Biography:

Dr. Reddy is a Distinguished Professor and inaugural holder of the Oscar S. Wyatt Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. Dr. Reddy earned a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics in 1974. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, Research Scientist for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company during l974-75, and taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1980 and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University from 1980 to 1992. Currently Prof Reddy heads the Engineering Science Programme at National University of Singapore. Dr. Reddy is the author of multiple hundreds of journal papers and more than 12 text books on theoretical formulations and finite-element analysis of problems in solid and structural mechanics (plates and shells), composite materials, computational fluid dynamics, numerical heat transfer, and applied mathematics. He is the first recipient of numerous awards including the 1984 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize of the ASCE, 1992 Worcester Reed Warner Medal and 1995 Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award of the ASME, the 1997 Archie Higdon Distinguished Educator Award from the Mechanics Division of the ASEngEdu, the 1998 Nathan M. Newmark Medal from the ASCE, and the 2000 Technomic Award for Composites from the American Society of Composite Materials. He is a fellow of AAM, ASCE, ASME, IACM, USACM, and ASI. He also received Certificates of Teaching Excellence at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Outstanding Graduate Teaching award from Texas A&M University.

Dr. Reddy serves on the editorial boards of about two dozen journals, including: Journal of Applied Mechanics (ASME), International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, and International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Applied Mechanics Reviews, Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, International Journal of Computational Methods in Engineering Science and Mechanics, and International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics.