Accuracy of shell and solid elements in vibration analyses of thin- and thick-walled isotropic cylinders

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) theory of elasticity solutions for vibration analysis of simply supported cylinders are obtained and used to find the natural frequencies. The results are compared with various finite element models using both shell and three-dimensional solid elements to verify the accuracy of these finite element models. In addition, results are obtained for various hollow cylinders for possible verification of shell theories and shell elements based on such theories. A point is made here that although 3D elements can provide accurate results, they are not practical in industrial applications of thin- and thick-walled structures. Instead, shell elements are needed for such applications. However, further improvements to the shell theory used in the finite element formulation are needed to improve the accuracy of these shell elements.