In this thesis, a new concept of finite strip elements is introduced.Lagrangian, Hermitian and spline-type interpolations have beenused independently along the two axes of the plate mid-plane.Different plate-bending theories; Mindlin, Reissner and Kirchhofftheories have been applied in the derivations of the new finitestripelements, for isotropic and composite materials. The newelements have also been extended to work as faceted shellelements for the analysis of cylindrical shells, folded plates andstiffened plates.An efficient modular programming package based on thoseelements was designed, and it is capable of performing linear andnon-linear stress analysis, buckling analysis and natural frequencyanalysis. The modular package, which was coded in FORTRANhas different solvers and a built-in mesh generator for differenttypes of plate structures.A number of case studies have been employed for the validationof the package and testing its different capabilities. The packagehas proved to be an efficient tool for numerical modelling ofplates, cylindrical shells, folded plates and stiffened plates madeof isotropic and composite layered materials.
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