Axisymmetric shells and plates on tensionless elastic foundations

This paper _rst describes a _nite element method for the large de~ection analysis of axisymmetric shells and plates on a nonlinear tensionless elastic foundation[ Through the use of discrete data points\ any form of nonlinear elastic foundation behaviour can be easily modelled[ The analysis is then validated by com! parison with existing results for circular plates and beams as the only existing results for shells on tensionless foundations are found to be in error[ Following this veri_cation\ the analysis is applied to investigate the behaviour of shallow spherical shells subject to a central concentrated load on tensionless linear elastic foundations[ A number of insightful conclusions regarding the behaviour of such structure!foundation systems are drawn[ The numerical results for shells are believed to be the _rst correct results\ which may be useful in benchmarking results from other sources in the future