MODELING OF THE INCLUSION OF A REINFORCING SHEET WITHIN A 3D MEDIUM

Abstract

We propose a variational formulation suitable for coupling a shell and a surrounding softer 3D medium. This is intended to model the behavior of a reinforcing sheet as frequently occurs in applications. The crucial issue of the kinematical coupling conditions is addressed by taking into account the rotation degrees of freedom of the shell. We then perform an asymptotic analysis of the coupled model in which the distinction between bending-dominated and membrane-dominated shells arises. For the limit solutions we identify coupling kinematical conditions that do not involve rotations. Finally we present some numerical results that illustrate our discussions.