A three-dimensional layer-wise constant shear element for general anisotropic shell-type structures

This paper deals with the development of a new three-dimensional element with two-dimensional kinematic constraints capable of analysing the mechanical behaviour of the laminated anisotropic shell-type structures. This element, originally developed for the linear analysis of plates, is extended for the linear analysis of laminated composite shells. The element can represent arbitrarily curved shells with variable number of layers and thicknesses, including ply drop-off problems. The element was validated in a previous work by the patch test. All the analytical details necessary to make possible the shell analysis are presented here. Examples are reported to show the capability of the element to predict the behaviour of complex structures and a refined computation of the stresses is carried out by integrating the equilibrium equations.

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