A novel higher-order shear deformation theory for bending and free vibration analysis of isotropic and multilayered plates and shells

In this work, the bending and free vibration analysis of multilayered plates and shells is presented by utilizing a new higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT). The proposed involves only four unknowns, which is even less than the first shear deformation theory (FSDT) and without requiring the shear correction coefficient. Unlike the conventional HSDTs, the present one presents a novel displacement field which incorporates undetermined integral variables. The equations of motion are derived by using the Hamilton's principle. These equations are then solved via Navier-type, closed form solutions. Bending and vibration results are found for cylindrical and spherical shells and plates for simply supported boundary conditions. Bending and vibration problems are treated as individual cases. Panels are subjected to sinusoidal, distributed and point loads. Results are presented for thick to thin as well as shallow and deep shells. The computed results are compared with the exact 3D elasticity theory and with several other conventional HSDTs. The proposed HSDT is found to be precise compared to other several existing ones for investigating the static and dynamic response of isotropic and multilayered composite shell and plate structures.