THEORY AND NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS OF SHELLS UNDERGOING LARGE ELASTIC STRAINS

A non-linear bending theory of rubber-like shells undergoing large elastic strains is proposed. The theory is based on a relaxed normality hypothesis and the incompressibility condition. Using series expansion in the normal direction and applying some estimation technique a consistent first approximation and a simplest approximation to the elastic strain energy of the shell are constructed. Lagrangian displacement shell equations are derived and the incremental shell deformation is considered. The numerical results presented for one- and two-dimensional large strain shell problems confirm the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed shell theory.