FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR SHELL FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

This paper gives a brief overview of some current issues and future challenges in finite element analysis of shells, with the emphasis on nonlinear effects. • It discusses problems related to shell buckling, if the buckling is accompanied by other nonlinearities such as inelastic material behavior and contact constraints. • It addresses the validity of traditional shell theory when applied to non-traditional materials, in particular short-fiber reinforced composites. • It discusses shell element formulations and describes a non-traditional (though not exactly new) approach to formulation of shell elements, which may be relevant in the integration between CAD and FEA. Various examples are included to illustrate the points made in the paper.