This account of the theory of plates and shells is written primarily as a textbook for graduate students in mechanical and civil engineering.The unified treatment of shells of arbitrary shape is accomplished by tensor analysis. This useful tool is introduced in the first chapter, and no knowledge of advanced mathematical methods is required. The general theory developed in the first eight chapters is applied in the remaining part to thin elastic plates and shells with special emphasis on engineering methods and engineering applications. A number of detailed examples illustrate the theory.

This book attempts to bring the essence of shell structures within the grasp of engineers. It tackles the fundamental question of how bending and stretching effects combine and interact in shell structures from a physical point of view; and shows that this approach leads to an understanding of the structural mechanics of shells in general.

The objective of Volume III is to lay down the proper mathematical foundations of the two-dimensional theory of shells. To this end, it provides, without any recourse to any a priori assumptions of a geometrical or mechanical nature, a mathematical justification of two-dimensional nonlinear and linear shell theories, by means of asymptotic methods, with the thickness as the "small" parameter.

The study ofthree-dimensional continua has been a traditional part of graduate education in solid mechanics for some time. With rational simplifications to the three-dimensional theory of elasticity, the engineering theories of medium-thin plates and of thin shells may be derived and applied to a large class of engi neering structures distinguished by a characteristically small dimension in one direction. Often, these theories are developed somewhat independently due to their distinctive geometrical and load-resistance characteristics. On the other hand, the two systems share a common basis and might be unified under the classification of Surface Structures after the German term Fliichentragwerke. This common basis is fully exploited in this book. A substantial portion of many traditional approaches to this subject has been devoted to constructing classical and approximate solutions to the governing equations of the system in order to proceed with applications. Within the context of analytical, as opposed to numerical, approaches, the limited general ity of many such solutions has been a formidable obstacle to applications involving complex geometry, material properties, and/or loading. It is now relatively routine to obtain computer-based solutions to quite complicated situations. However, the choice of the proper problem to solve through the selection of the mathematical model remains a human rather than a machine task and requires a basis in the theory of the subject.