USE OF ASYMMETRIC SANDWICH CONSTRUCTION TO MINIMIZE BENDING STRESSES

摘要

In shells, bending stresses in addition to the membrane stresses exist in the vicinity of each structural discontinuity (such as at edge supports, rings, stringers, holes, etc.) and each load discontinuity. This region is the "bending boundary layer". In sandwich shells, mid-plane asymmetry can be employed to minimize these bending stresses. Governing equations for the mid-plane asymmetric sandwich shell subjected to axially symmetric loads are derived herein and solved. The solution involves a mid-plane asymmetry factor φ, defined herein such that for any asymmetric sandwich construction, -1 < φ < 1. Therefore, perturbation solutions are easily obtained using the solutions for the symmetric shell.