Bending and Stress Analysis of Doubly Curved Laminated Composite Shells under Arbitrary Non-uniformly Distributed Loads

By developing an analytical approach, this study investigates bending and stress analysis of doubly curved laminated composite shells under arbitrary, non-uniformly distributed loads. Using Hamilton’s principle and based on the first-order shear deformation theory, the governing equations are derived as five coupled second-order partial differential equations. For the first time, an analytical approach based on the dual power-series solution is developed to analyze doubly curved shells. In this regard, the obtained set of governing equations is solved using the proposed analytical method. Doubly curved laminated composite shells with arbitrary boundary conditions and various distributed loads can be analyzed using the proposed solution procedure. The results obtained in this study were compared with those obtained by the other researchers using the layerwise and higher-order theories. The comparisons showed that the obtained results are in good agreement with the results of other researchers, so the proposed analytical method can be used to analyze doubly curved shells in various loading and boundary conditions. The developed solution procedure uses the three-dimensional theory of elasticity to determine transverse shear stresses. Boundary conditions at the top and bottom of the laminated shell and continuity conditions at the interfaces between layers are exactly satisfied.