Analysis of cylindrical shell panels. A meshless solution

The Meshless Analog Equation Method, a purely meshless method, is applied to the static analysis of cylindrical shell panels. The method is based on the concept of the analog equation of Katsikadelis, which converts the three governing partial differential equations in terms of displacements into three substitute equations, two of second order and one fourth order, under fictitious sources. The fictitious sources are represented by series of radial basis functions of multiquadric type. Thus the substitute equations can be directly integrated. This integration allows the representation of the sought solution by new radial basis functions, which approximate accurately not only the displacements but also their derivatives involved in the governing equations. This permits a strong formulation of the problem. Thus, inserting the approximate solution in the differential equations and in the associated boundary conditions and collocating at a predefined set of mesh-free nodal points, a system of linear equations is obtained, which gives the expansion coefficients of radial basis functions series that represent the solution. The minimization of the total potential of the shell results in the optimal choice of the shape parameter of the radial basis functions. The method is illustrated by analyzing several shell panels. The studied examples demonstrate the efficiency and the accuracy of the presented method.