EU Regional School - Kiendl Seminar

Prof. Dr. Josef Kiendl - Structural Analysis of Shells: Geometry, Mechanics, and Computational Methods

Department of Marine Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Abstract

Shell structures are ubiquitous in engineering and nature as they provide a very high ratio of stiffness to weight. Their structural behavior is mainly determined by their shape, and geometry plays a fundamental role in establishing the equations for shell mechanics. In practice, structural analysis is performed mainly through numerical methods like finite element analysis and there have been decades of research for developing efficient and robust shell elements. Isogeometric Analysis, which aims at combining computer-aided geometric design and analysis, has shown to be especially well-suited for shell analysis and has led to a new wave of research on shell element formulations.

In this lecture, we will first discuss the theory of shell structures, starting with an introduction to differential geometry and then deriving the governing equations in strong and weak forms. Based on that, we will discuss their solution with numerical methods and consider different element formulations from FEA and IGA. Finally, some applications from actual research within isogeometric shell analysis will be presented.