A Digital Computer Program for the General Axially Symmetric Thin-Shell Problem

This paper describes the development of a general computer program to handle arbitrary thin shells of revolution subject to radially symmetric loading or temperature variation. An elimination method is used to solve the set of difference equations obtained from the basic differential equations; a feature of the method is that “edge effect” difficulties that can arise with conventional differential-equation routines are avoided. The program is quite flexible and permits discontinuities in shell geometry or loading. The results of applying the program to several classical problems of known solution are given. These results permit the examination of computational accuracy for varying boundary conditions and mesh sizes. Finally, some program solutions of unconventional problems are presented.