Refined and generalized hybrid type quasi-3D shear deformation theory for the bending analysis of functionally graded shells

The closed-form solution of a generalized hybrid type quasi-3D higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) for the bending analysis of functionally graded shells is presented. From the generalized quasi-3D HSDT (which involves the shear strain functions “f(ζ)” and “g(ζ)” and therefore their parameters to be selected “m” and “n”, respectively), infinite six unknowns' hybrid shear deformation theories with thickness stretching effect included, can be derived and solved in a closed-from. The generalized governing equations are also “m” and “n” parameter dependent. Navier-type closed-form solution is obtained for functionally graded shells subjected to transverse load for simply supported boundary conditions. Numerical results of new optimized hybrid type quasi-3D HSDTs are compared with the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT), and other quasi-3D HSDTs. The key conclusions that emerge from the present numerical results suggest that: (a) all non-polynomial HSDTs should be optimized in order to improve the accuracy of those theories; (b) the optimization procedure in all the cases is, in general, beneficial in terms of accuracy of the non-polynomial hybrid type quasi-3D HSDT; (c) it is possible to gain accuracy by keeping the unknowns constant; (d) there is not unique quasi-3D HSDT which performs well in any particular example problems, i.e. there exists a problem dependency matter.