This paper gives a historical review of the theories that have been developed for the analysis of multilayered structures. Attention has been restricted to the so-called Zig-Zag theories, which describe a piecewise continuous displacement field in the plate thickness direction and fulfill interlaminar continuity of transverse stresses at each layer interface. Basically, plate and shell geometries are addressed, even though beams are also considered in some cases. Models in which the number of displacement variables is kept independent of the number of constitutive layers are discussed to the greatest extent. Attention has been restricted to those plate and shell theories which are based on the so-called method of hypotheses or axiomatic approach in which assumptions are introduced for displacements and/or transverse stresses. Mostly, the work published in the English language is reviewed. However, an account of a few articles originally written in Russian is also given. The historical review conducted has led to the following main conclusions. 1! Lekhnitskii ~1935! was the first to propose a Zig-Zag theory, which was obtained by solving an elasticity problem involving a layered beam. 2! Two other different and independent Zig-Zag theories have been singled out. One was developed by Ambartsumian ~1958!, who extended the well-known Reissner-Mindlin theory to layered, anisotropic plates and shells; the other approach was introduced by Reissner ~1984!, who proposed a variational theorem that permits both displacements and transverse stress assumptions. 3 ! On the basis of historical considerations, which are detailed in the paper, it is proposed to refer to these three theories by using the following three names: Lekhnitskii Multilayered Theory, ~LMT!, Ambartsumian Multilayered Theory ~AMT!, and Reissner Multilayered Theory ~RMT!. As far as subsequent contributions to these three theories are concerned, it can be remarked that: 4! LMT although very promising, has almost been ignored in the open literature. 5! Dozens of papers have instead been presented which consist of direct applications or particular cases of the original AMT. The contents of the original works have very often been ignored, not recognized, or not mentioned in the large number of articles that were published in journals written in the English language. Such historical unfairness is detailed in Section 3.2. 6! RMT seems to be the most natural and powerful method to analyze multilayered structures. Compared to other theories, the RMT approach has allowed from the beginning development of models which retain the fundamental effect related to transverse normal stresses and strains. This review article cites 138 references. @DOI: 10.1115/1.1557614#

Historical review of Zig-Zag theories for multilayered plates and shells

Three-dimensional Problems of the Theory of Elasticity. By A. I. Lur’e.1964. (Interscience Publishers)

A large variety of plate theories are described and assessed in the present work to evaluate the bending and vibration of sandwich structures. A brief survey of available works is first given. Such a survey includes significant review papers and latest developments on sandwich structure modelings. The kinematics of classical, higher order, zigzag, layerwise, and mixed theories is described. An exhaustive numerical assessment of the whole theories is provided in the case of closed form solutions of simply supported panels made of orthotropic layers. Reference is made to the unified formulation that has recently been introduced by the first author for a plate/shell analysis. Attention has been given to displacements, stresses (both in-plane and out-of-plane components), and the free vibration response. Only simply supported orthotropic panels loaded by a transverse distribution of bisinusoidal pressure have been analyzed. Five benchmark problems are treated. The accuracy of the plate theories is established with respect to the length-to-thickness-ratio (LTR) geometrical parameters and to the face-to-core-stiffness-ratio (FCSR) mechanical parameters. Two main sources of error are outlined, which are related to LTR and FCSR, respectively. It has been concluded that higher order theories (HOTs) can be conveniently used to reduce the error due to LTR in thick plate cases. But HOTs are not effective in increasing the accuracy of the classical theory analysis whenever the error is caused by increasing FCSR values; layerwise analysis becomes mandatory in this case.

A Survey With Numerical Assessment of Classical and Refined Theories for the Analysis of Sandwich Plates

Recent research advances in the dynamic behavior of shells: 1989–2000, Part 2: Homogeneous shells

A unified formulation to assess theories of multilayered plates for various bending problems

Studies on the static and dynamic deformation of isotropic and anisotropic elastic shell-like bodies of complex shape performed using classical and refined problem statements are reviewed. To solve two-dimensional boundary-value problems and eigenvalue problems, use is made of a nontraditional discrete-continuum approach based on the spline-approximation of the unknown functions of partial differential equations with variable coefficients. This enables reducing the original problem to a system of one-dimensional problems solved with the discrete-orthogonalization method. An analysis is made of numerical results on the distribution of stress and displacement fields and dynamic characteristics depending on the loading and boundary conditions, geometrical and mechanical parameters of elastic bodies. Emphasis is placed on the accuracy of the results

Static and Dynamic Problems for Anisotropic Inhomogeneous Shells with Variable Parameters and Their Numerical Solution (Review)

Some approaches to the solution of problems on the elastic deformation of thin-walled solids with a complex shape are analyzed on the basis of linear and geometrically nonlinear models. The general characteristic of the classical approaches to the solution of the problems is discussed. Approaches employing new classes of surfaces are considered. Solutions to some problems on the stress state of complex shell elements are presented

Linear and nonlinear problems on the elastic deformation of complex shells and methods of their numerical solution

Unsteady temperature fields and stresses in thin plates: Ya. S. Podstrigach and Yu. M. Kolyano

An approach is developed to solve stress–strain problems in a refined formulation for orthotropic cylindrical shells of variable thickness and noncircular cross section. It is shown, as an example, how the distributions of deflections and stresses depend on changes in the shell thickness at constant weight

Stress Analysis of Orthotropic Noncircular Cylindrical Shells of Variable Thickness in a Refined Formulation

The paper presents an approach based on three-dimensional elastic equations to solve boundary-value stress problems for hollow cylinders with corrugated elliptical cross section. Discrete Fourier series are used to make the problem one-dimensional and then to solve it by the stable discrete orthogonalization method. Solutions for cylinders of different thicknesses are presented

Ya. M. Grigorenko

Papers

Static and Dynamic Problems for Anisotropic Inhomogeneous Shells with Variable Parameters and Their Numerical Solution (Review)

Linear and nonlinear problems on the elastic deformation of complex shells and methods of their numerical solution

Unsteady temperature fields and stresses in thin plates: Ya. S. Podstrigach and Yu. M. Kolyano

Stress Analysis of Orthotropic Noncircular Cylindrical Shells of Variable Thickness in a Refined Formulation

Solving the Stress Problem for Hollow Cylinders with Corrugated Elliptical Cross Section