STATIC ANALYSIS OF A THICK LAMINATED CIRCULAR CYLINDRICAL-SHELL SUBJECTED TO AXISYMMETRICAL LOAD

An exact solution for a thick, transversely isotropic, simply supported, circular cylindrical shell subjected to axisymmetric load has been obtained by using a displacement function approach. This solution has been extended to unidirectional hybrid laminates. However, this solution in general is not applicable to cross-ply laminates. An approximate solution using an elasticity approach also has been presented for the analysis of hybrid and cross-ply laminates. The results obtained from the approximate solution have been compared with the exact solution. Numerical results have been presented for 3-ply laminates subjected to sinusoidal and band loads. To make the method computationally efficient, particularly for a laminated shell, a transfer matrix approach has been presented and the application of this has been illustrated through an example of a 10-ply laminated shell.