THE RESEARCH PROGRAM PROPOSED HEREIN IS DIRECTED TOWARDS DEVELOPING A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF RAPID THERMAL LOADING OF DELAMINATED COMPOSITE STRUCTURES.

THE RESEARCH PROGRAM PROPOSED HEREIN IS DIRECTED TOWARDS DEVELOPING A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF RAPID THERMAL LOADING OF DELAMINATED COMPOSITE STRUCTURES. THE STRUCTURE TO BE EXAMINED INCLUDE FLAT AND SHALLOW-CURVED PLATES AND CYLINDRICAL SHELLS. USING HAMILTON'S PRINCIPLE AND THE REISSNER VARIATION THEOREM, A NEW DYNAMIC THERMOELASTIC VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE WILL BE DEVELOPED. APPLICATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE TO BOTH PLATES AND SHELLS PROVIDES THE EQUATIONS OF DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM AND THE ASSOCIATED NATURAL AND GEOMETRIC BOUNDARY CONDITIONS. IMPORTANT PHYSICALLY OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPOSITE NOT USUALLY FOUND IN CLASSICAL APPROACHES, WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE THEORY. THESE CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDE TRANSVERSE SHEAR, MATERIAL NONLINEARITY AND DELAMINATION MECHANISM. IN THIS PHASE I EFFORT, THE THERMOELASTIC MODEL WILL BE DEFINED AND THE GOVERNING EQUATIONS DERIVED FOR BOTH CONTIGUOUS AND DELAMINATED PLATE AND SHELL STRUCTURE. SOLUTION OF THE GOVERNING EQUATIONS AND NUMERICAL EXAMPLES CONSTITUTES THE MAJOR EMPHASIS OF ANY PHASE II WORK.