Displacements and stresses in cylindrical shells based on an improved theory

This paper is concerned with the study of the effect of shear deformation on the displacements and stresses in a cylindrical shell under a static load. Developing the theory including the effect of shear deformation, the system of equations with three displacements and two rotation angles is reduced to one with only three displacements, this being done without introducing any approximation. The accuracy of the theory proposed is examined for a simply supported cylindrical shell by comparing the results with those produced using the Mirsky-Herrmann type equations.