Free vibrations of multilayered doubly curved shells based on a mixed variational approach and global piecewise-smooth functions

This paper presents the extension of a two-dimensional model that, recently appeared in literature, deals with freely vibrating laminated plates. The extension takes into account the corresponding theory describing the dynamic of freely vibrating multilayered doubly curved shells. The relevant governing differential equations, associated boundary conditions and constitutive equations are derived from one of Reissner’s mixed variational theorems. Both the governing differential equations and the related boundary conditions are presented in terms of resultant stresses and displacements. In spite of the multi-layer nature of the shell, the theory is developed as if the shell were virtually made of a single layer. This choice does not limit the performances of the model, which are comparable to the corresponding three-dimensional theory. This ability is accomplished by an appropriate global expansion of the relevant kinetic and stress quantities, through the thickness of the multilayered shell. The mentioned expansion is realized by a novel selection of global piecewise-smooth functions. Numerical tests illustrate the performance of the model with respect to several elements subjected to a class of simply supported boundary conditions: plates, circular cylindrical shells, spherical and saddle-shape laminates. The model is first tested by comparing its resulting eigen-parameters, with those few existing of exact or approximate three-dimensional models and, finally, new results are provided for several geometrical and material characteristics for plates and shells.