A Comparison of Several Computer Solutions to Three Structural Shell Analysis Problems.

Abstract : SHELL STRUCTURES, THE Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory prepared and distributed to the structures community a series of three sample problems. These problems are intended to be representative of current engineering situations. The analyses requested consisted of linear stress, free vibration, bifurcation buckling, elastic and inelastic collapse, and linear and nonlinear transient response. Solutions to these problems were solicited with the objective of obtaining information that could be used to compare and assess contemporary computer-oriented analysis methods. The solutions that were submitted are presented in this report. Comparison of the several solutions for each analysis reveals that in general there is good agreement for the linear and eigenvalue analyses. For the nonlinear analyses, multiple solutions were received only for the transient response problem. Comparison of these solutions shows limited agreement between any of the results. (Author)