A hierarchical variable-curvature shell formulation for the static analysis of variable angle tow composite structures

In this study, the Carrera’s unified formulation is extended to the static analysis of variable angle tow composite shells with non-constant curvature radii. To this end, appropriate two-dimensional finite elements are developed within the unified framework, enabling the accurate prediction of quasi three-dimensional displacement and stress fields at a reduced computational cost. Both the principle of virtual displacements and Reissner’s mixed variational theorem are employed to derive the weak form of the problem within the finite element method framework. For the sake of validation, high-fidelity reference solutions are obtained using a global-local modeling strategy in Abaqus. Comparisons between the proposed models and the 3D finite element reference solutions show excellent agreement. The mixed variational formulation, in particular, accurately predicts transverse stresses, confirming both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed methodology.