Application of matrix displacement method to linear elastic analysisof shells of revolution.

The paper describes the application of the matrix displacement method to the linear elastic analysis of shells of revolution. The shell is idealized as a series of conical frusta, joined at nodal circles. In the present paper the use of the idealization to handle asymmetric deformations is demonstrated. Also shown is how approximations to the mass and stiffness matrices may be consistently derived; these may then be used to solve both static and dynamic problems. The effect on the results of static analyses of improving the approximation to the stiffness matrix, using the procedure suggested by Pian, is demonstrated and discussed. Results are presented of static analyses of several shell configurations, and these are compared with solutions by other methods. It is found that the method provides accurate solutions for shells of revolution under both axisymmetric and asymmetric loadings by using a reasonable number of elements.