Nonlinear Shell Models of Kirchhoff-Love Type: Existence Theorem and Comparison with Koiter’s Model

International audienceWe define two nonlinear shell models whereby the deformation of an elastic shell with small thickness minimizes ad hoc functionals over sets of admissible deformations of Kirchhoff-Love type. We establish that both models are close in a specific sense to the well-known nonlinear shell model of W.T. Koiter and that one of them has a solution, by contrast with Koiter's model for which such an existence theorem is yet to be proven