Finite element analysis of nonlinear deformation, stability and vibrations of elastic thin-walled structures

Abstract

Thin-walled shell-type structures are widely used in various branches of technology and industry. Such structures under operating conditions are usually exposed to various loads, including thermomechanical ones. Real shell structures, as a rule, have a complex shapes. To increase reliability, reduce material consumption, for technological reasons, they are designed as inhomogeneous systems in thickness. This causes a great and constant interest of engineers and designers in the problems of investigating the behavior of elastic thin-walled shell structures. The work is devoted to the method of analysis of geometrically nonlinear deformation, stability, post-buckling behavior and natural vibrations of thin elastic shells of complex shape and structure under the action of static thermomechanical loads. The unified design model has been created on the basis of the developed universal spatial finite element with introduced additional variable parameters. The model takes into account the multilayer material structure and geometric features for structural elements of the thin shell. The shells can be reinforced with ribs and cover plates, weakened by cavities, channels and holes, have sharp bends in the mid-surface. Such a uniform formulation made it possible to create a unified finite element model of the shells with an inhomogeneous structure. It is shown on a number of problems that the method presented in this article is an effective tool for analyzing geometrically nonlinear deformation, stability, post-buckling behavior and natural vibrations of thin elastic shells of an inhomogeneous structure under the action of static thermomechanical loads.