Axisymmetric general shells and jointed shells of revolution

An iterative numerical method is presented for the analysis of axisymmetric isotropic general shells with varying wall rigidity. Shell elements of special geometric shapes e.g., cylindrical spherical and conical shells are also considered. One-dimensional finite difference points are used to discretize the shell elements into strips along the meridian. An iterative technique is then employed to determine the displacements and stresses. The solution to jointed shells is determined by the well-known stiffness approach. The proposed method is applicable to any variation in rigidity along the meridian and to general axisymmetric loading conditions.