Shell Structures in Civil and Mechanical Engineering: Theory and analysis

Shell Structures in Civil and Mechanical Engineering, joint winner of the University of Cape Town Book Award for 2019, comprehensively covers the theories governing the membrane and bending behaviour of thin elastic shells. It applies these theories to obtain practical solutions for a wide variety of shell structures encountered in the civil and mechanical engineering disciplines. Through a detailed examination of the mathematical solutions, the treatment reveals important insights on the mechanics of the shell, allowing the designer to make more informed choices.

Shell Structures in Civil and Mechanical Engineering:

• presents a thorough discussion of the applicability and limitations of the membrane hypothesis in the context of the more general bending theory of shells
• develops the membrane and bending theories of shells, and presents a wealth of closed-form mathematical results for a wide range of shell structures, including junction problems
• includes design considerations and parametric findings for domes, shell roofs, cooling towers, pressure vessels, tanks, new shell forms for liquid containment and novel multi-shell assemblies
• presents the fundamentals of shell buckling and of finite element modelling of shells.

This new edition is intended for civil and structural engineers involved with the design of domes, architectural shell roofs, industrial barrel roofs, cooling towers, silos, elevated water reservoirs, liquid-containment structures at water treatment works, egg-shaped sludge digesters, oil-storage tanks, chemical storage vessels, and pipelines for water, oil and gas.

It will also be of interest to mechanical and industrial engineers involved with the design of pressure vessels, boilers, nuclear containment vessels and associated piping. The rigorous derivation of theory and inclusion of new findings will appeal to researchers and postgraduate students in these fields.

It has been such a pleasure to read this second edition. Shell structures have so much to offer our profession in all sorts of ways, and this book demonstrates the extraordinary scope of application of shells which should be exploited by structural designers. The book leads the reader rather beautifully through the increasing complexity of applications of shell structures, providing full derivations throughout to problems of real practical importance. Starting with axisymmetric problems and ending up with shells of arbitrary shape, the reader is introduced to the analysis of egg-shaped structures through to shell-roof problems, which is where my particular interest lies in the future design and construction of efficient, elegant and low-carbon structures. The book ends with a generalised numerical approach to shells, which includes dynamic considerations. Again, this is a crucial aspect in structural design. In every aspect, this books hits the right spots. It is extremely rigorous, logical in progression, cognisant of a variety of potential applications of shells, and a joy to read. --Tim Ibell FREng, Sir Kirby Laing Professor of Civil Engineering, Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge

This is an excellent book which embodies a very comprehensive treatment of shell structures in civil and mechanical engineering. It is packed with information presented in a very efficient and informative manner across 13 chapters. After an overview of shell applications in chapter 1, it covers shells of revolution under both axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric loads in chapters 2 6, with the axisymmetric bending of shells introduced in chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 7 treats shell- ring systems and multi- shell assemblies while chapter 8 presents parametric studies of liquid- containment shells of revolution and roof domes. Chapters 9 and 10 cover the membrane theory and solutions for general cylinders and shells of arbitrary shapes respectively. Shell structure are thin and may be subjected to buckling. This book quite appropriately considers the buckling of shells in chapter 11. Finite element analysis of shells is introduced in chapter 12 and this chapter is a must in any book in this millennium. The book concludes with some design considerations for shell structures in the last chapter. The topic of shell structures is not easy and it requires the author to have a deep understanding of the topic as well as the ability to present the material in an easy to read and interesting manner. Professor Zingoni is uniquely talented to undertake this task. The book is very well written, practical, easy to read and simple to understand. My colleagues, students and I have used the previous edition of this book and found it to be of immense value, not only in teaching but also in research. I am confident that the next edition will be even more valuable to us. I have great pleasure in recommending the 2nd edition of this excellent book to students, academics and professional engineers who wish to have a good understanding of shell structures or to use it as a reference book. --Professor David P Thambiratnam, BSc CE Hons 1, MSc, PhD, FICE, FASCE, FIEAust., CPEng, School of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology