This project is being supported under Phase II of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. It will support the development of a reliable and effective software system for the design and analysis of composite multilayered shells. The system should be capable of modeling both linear and nonlinear behavior in three dimensions, assessing the quality of the solution, and providing feedback so that the quality of the solution can be improved. Its hierarchical structure should allow the selection of models of increasing complexity in an adaptive manner, so that the goals of computation are satisfied within the required accuracy and with minimal effort. The investigation will be focused on hierarchical sequences of models for laminated shells and the issues of implementation of these models into the structure of the p-version of the finite element method. In the Phase I effort, the scope was limited to the bending of laminated plates and addressing their extension to shells. Phase II will involve utilizing the results of Phase I to assess the problems associated with bending/membrane coupling and curvature, and to extend those concepts to the nonlinear (small-strain large- deformation) solution methods for laminated plates and shells.
