CALCULATION OF CURVILINEAR TUBULAR SHELLS BY THE SEMIANALYTIC METHOD OF FINITE ELEMENTS.

The article considers the problem of elastic equilibrium of a tubular shell with a curvilinear plane axis acted upon by an external surface load. The Kirchhoff-Love equations of thin elastic shells are employed, in matrix form. A version of the method of finite elements is proposed that is based on expansion of the unknown displacements in the form of segments of Fourier series in one variable, and approximation by piecewise-Hermitian polynomials in another. The geometrical characteristics of the center surface of the shell are replaced within the limits of each element by the first terms of their Taylor series expansions. An example involving calculation of a tube with an elliptical axis is given.