Introduction

The two previous chapters have examined the response of beams and plates when made from rigid, perfectly plastic materials and subjected to large dynamic loads. This chapter employs similar methods of analysis to study the dynamic stable response of shells.

Shells are thin-walled structural members having either one non-zero curvature (e.g., cylindrical and conical shells) or two non-zero curvatures (e.g., spherical and toroidal shells). They are used throughout engineering for storage (e.g., gas storage tanks), transportation (e.g., pipelines and railway tank cars) and for protection purposes (e.g., crash helmets), and are vital components of submersibles, offshore platforms, chemical plant and many other applications.