Abstract
The techniques of discrete field mechanics are used in conjunction with energy method to obtain an exact mathematical model to represent a latticed shell subjected a flexure and corresponding solutions. The method developed is considered as a kind of micro approach and its usefulness has proven especially effective for the analysis of latticed shells with general types of boundary supports, such as free or ribbed polygonal edges. The immediate results are; (a) The mathematical model which can be used for the linear analysis of latticed structures (b) A clear statement of the natural boundary conditions associated with each system (c) Closed form solutions to the total model described by the steps (a) and (b) A further development of the method enables one to obtain with relative ease closed from solutions to structures which were not amenable by conventional method because of the complexity of the boundary conditions. Such solutions are valid over the entire structure and are independent of the size of the system. The technique is applied to the solutions of circular cylindrical latticed shells with ribbed polygonal edge beams, where rigidities of the beams can take arbitrary values. Each solution presented in this paper has been investigated numerically and compared with results obtained by open form method. The comparison shows significant accuracy and great reliability of the technique proposed here.
