This book commemorates the 80th birthday of Prof. W. Pietraszkiewicz, a prominent specialist in the field of general shell theory. Reflecting Prof. Pietraszkiewicz’s focus, the respective papers address a range of current problems in the theory of shells. In addition, they present other structural mechanics problems involving dimension-reduced models. Lastly, several applications are discussed, including material models for such dimension-reduced structures.

This volume focuses on the relevant general theory and presents some first applications, namely those based on classical shell theory. After a brief introduction, during which the history and state-of-the-art are discussed, the first chapter presents the mechanics of anisotropic heterogeneous shells, covering all relevant assumptions and the basic relations of 3D elasticity, classical and refined shell models. The second chapter examines the numerical techniques that are used, namely discrete orthogonalization, spline-collocation and Fourier series, while the third highlights applications based on classical theory, in particular, the stress-strain state of shallow shells, non-circular shells, shells of revolution, and free vibrations of conical shells. The book concludes with a summary and an outlook bridging the gap to the second volume.

This book commemorates the 80th birthday of Prof. W. Pietraszkiewicz, a prominent specialist in the field of general shell theory. Reflecting Prof. Pietraszkiewicz's focus, the respective papers address a range of current problems in the theory of shells. In addition, they present other structural mechanics problems involving dimension-reduced models. Lastly, several applications are discussed, including material models for such dimension-reduced structures.

This brief book presents solutions of stress-strain problems for a wide class of anisotropic inhomogeneous shells obtained by the refined model. Studying these problems results in severe computational difficulties due to partial differential equations with variable coefficients resulting from the constitutive relations of the original model. To solve this problem the book uses spline-collocation and discrete-orthogonalization methods. It analyses the influence of geometrical and mechanical parameters, of various kinds of boundary conditions, and of the loading conditions on the distributions of stress and displacement fields in shallow, spherical, conical, and noncircular cylindrical shells. The dependence of the stress-strain pattern on shell thickness variations is studied. The authors solve the problem also for the case of the thickness varying in two directions. They study how a variation in shell thickness influences the stress-strain state and consider noncircular cylindrical shells with elliptical and corrugated sections are considered. The results obtained during numerous calculations support the efficiency of the discrete-orthogonalization approach proposed in the monograph for solving static problems for anisotropic inhomogeneous shells when using the refined model.

These two-partition books present essential approaches to numerical-analytical solutions of problems in the mechanics of shells with various structures and shapes based on refined and spatial models. Further, it examines the mechanical behavior of shallow, circular and noncircular, conical, spherical, and functionally graded shells obtained by the refined model. The book investigates the stress-strain state and free vibrations of finite-length cylinders in spatial formulation (3D elasticity theory). Further, it analyzes the influence of geometrical and mechanical parameters, of boundary conditions, and of the loading character on both the distributions of stress and displacement fields, and on the dynamical characteristics in these shells and cylinders. Lastly, it discusses in detail the validation of reliability for the results obtained by numerical calculations. As such, it complements the first part of the book, the volume Recent Developments in Anisotropic Heterogeneous Shell Theory: Applications of Refined and Three-dimensional Theory.

This book gives an insight into the current developments in the field of continuum mechanics. Twenty-five researchers present new theoretical concepts, e.g., better inclusion of the microstructure in the models describing material behavior. At the same time, there are also more applications for the theories in engineering practice. In addition to new theoretical approaches in continuum mechanics and applications, the book puts an emphasis on discussing multi-physics problems.

Plate and shell theories experienced a renaissance in recent years. The potentials of smart materials, the challenges of adaptive structures, the demands of thin-film technologies and more on the one hand and the availability of newly developed mathematical tools, the tremendous increase in computer facilities and the improvement of commercial software packages on the other caused a reanimation of the scientific interest. In the present book the contributions of the participants of the EUROMECH Colloquium 444 "Critical Review of the Theories of Plates and Shells and New Applications" have been collected. The aim was to discuss the common roots of different plate and shell approaches, to review the current state of the art, and to develop future lines of research. Contributions were written by scientists with civil and mechanical engineering as well as mathematical and physical background.