On the Influence of a Rigid Circular Inclusion on the Twisting and Shearing of a Shallow Spherical Shell

Abstract

Known results for plates with rigid inclusions are complemented by explicit asymptotic solutions of the corresponding problems for sufficiently thin spherical shells. An important element of the analysis is recognition of the fact that in addition to the distinction between interior and edge zone solution contributions there is a significant distinction between near-field and far-field behavior of the interior solution, with the nature of this distinction depending on the nature of the boundary conditions which are prescribed. In the event that near-field behavior is of the membrane type and far-field behavior of the inextensional bending type, or vice versa, much higher stress concentrations occur than without such change in interior solution behavior.