An Improved Shear-Deformation Theory for Moderately Thick Multilayered Anisotropic Shells and Plates

The general linear equations governing the motion of moderately thick multilayered anisotropic shells are derived by making use of the principle of virtual work in conjunction with an a priori assumed displacement field. The assumed displacement field is piecewise linear in the u and v components and fulfills the static and geometric continuity conditions between the contiguous layers; furthermore, it takes into account the distortion of the deformed normal. Shear and rotatory inertia terms have also been considered in the formulation. Particularization of the resulting equations to the flat multilayered anisotropic plates is straightforward; thus, only the final expressions are given. The proposed approach gives, as particular cases, the linear equations of motion of the classical shells theory based on the Kirchhoff-Love kinematic hypothesis and those of the shear deformation theory for which it is assumed that the deformed normal do not distort.