Vibration of moderately thick cylindrical shallow shells

A first-order shear deformation theory is employed for the vibration analysis of shallow cylindrical shells of rectangular planform. A general method of solution based on the Ritz extremum energy principle and two-dimensional polynomial is developed to examine the effects of thickness and curvature on the vibrating response of shells having various boundary constraints. Convergence and comparison studies are conducted to justify the accuracy of the eigenvalues. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the capability of the present method and to provide new data for design purposes. Sets of new vibration mode shapes are also presented to illustrate the vibratory characteristics of the shells. (C) 1996 Acoustical Society of America.