Global structural behaviour of thin and moderately thick monoclinic spherical shells using a mixed shear deformation model

Abstract

The static and dynamic responses of anisotropic spherical shells under a uniformly distributed transverse load are investigated. Analytical solutions using the mixed variational formulation are presented for spherical shells subjected to various boundary conditions. Numerical results of a refined mixed first-order shear deformation theory for natural frequencies, critical buckling, center deflections and stresses are compared with those obtained using the classical shell theory. A variety of simply-supported and clamped boundary conditions are considered and comparisons with the existing literature are made. The sample numerical results presented herein for global structural behaviour of monoclinic spherical shells should serve as references for future comparisons.