Nonlinear analysis of axisymmetric shells.

The present study is concerned with nonlinear analysis of toroidal shells and storage tanks. The study serves to demonstrate the usefulness of the differential quadrature method in this area of computational mechanics. The problem of the response of axisymmetric toroidal shells to uniform external pressure forms the first part of this study. Nonlinear thin shell theory, accounting for large displacements, is employed. The new differential quadrature method is used to obtain numerical results. For validation a bifurcation solution is found using the finite element method. The commercial code ADINA is used for this purpose. Finally the two methods are used to provide results for eight cases of toroidal shells. An axisymmetric analysis of a liquid storage tank with a circular base plate resting on an elastic foundation forms the second part of this study. Nonlinear shell theory is used for the tank wall and base plate, while a linear model is used for the foundation. A convergence study is carried out to determine the appropriate analysis parameters for the method. Partial validation is obtained by comparison with previously published results. These results are compared with finite element method results. Additional results are presented covering a wide range of tank geometric parameters