Basics of mechanics of micropolar shells

The chapter is devoted to the introduction to the nonlinear theory of micropolar shells called also six-parametric shell theory. Within the theory a shell is described as a deformable directed material surface each point of which has six degrees of freedom (DOF), i.e. three translational and three rotational DOF. In other words the shell kinematics coincides with the kinematics of a two-dimensional (2D) micropolar or Cosserat body. Here we present the basic equations of the micropolar shell theory including variational statements, compatibility conditions, etc