A Multiscale Approach for Multilayered Shell Structures Using a Refined Zigzag Theory

  • Sorrenti, Matteo (CIMNE)
  • Turon, Francesc (CIMNE)
  • Otero, Fermin (CIMNE)
  • Ferrer, Alex (CIMNE)
  • Martinez, Xavier (CIMNE)

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The mechanical modelling of multilayered shell structures, widely used in aerospace and marine engineering applications, is inherently complex due to pronounced transverse shear deformability and material anisotropy. The influence of material properties and geometric patterns, such as foam cores or architected materials, which strongly affect the global structure’s stiffness and strength, must be properly considered to predict the shell’s response. Approximate approaches based on global structural theories derived from conventional finite element methods may be unable to capture local laminate behaviour, particularly when small defects, complex material distributions, or voids are present. A more accurate and detailed description can be obtained with multiscale approaches. In this work, a new multiscale approach for the analysis of multilayered shell structures is proposed. At the global macro-scale level, the kinematics of the shell structure is approximated using the enhanced-Refined Zigzag Theory (en-RZT), which has been shown in recent years to accurately capture both global and local responses of laminated structures. The proposed multi-scale approach aims to determine the en-RZT shell stiffness matrices from a substructure representative of the laminate, i.e., a Representative Volume Element (RVE), discretised and analysed through a high-fidelity solid finite element model, under appropriate boundary conditions. The proposed formulation enables an accurate and computationally advantageous macro-scale solution given by the finite element implementation of the en-RZT, coupled with a more detailed response (in terms of stresses) given by the RVE solution. The static solution of a multilayered shell in terms of global macro-scale quantities and meso-scale local stress distributions is finely assessed through numerical comparisons with a high-fidelity 3D FE model. The results highlight the capability of the RZT-multiscale approach to improve the global and local predictions in multilayered shell structures.