Practical applications of substructuring in shell dynamics

Transient dynamic stress analysis of large shell structures is often required in many industrial designs. The asymmetry features of the structure often require a full three dimensional analysis. The difficulties experienced in performing the dynamic analysis of such large and complex structures result from economic feasibility and limitations on the available computer core memory. Substructuring techniques provide a way of overcoming these difficulties. The advantages and features associated with substructuring methods are discussed in general terms. The technique is then applied to perform a transient dynamic analysis of a typical shell structure. The discussion of the example problem focused to highlight the economy, flexibility and the data handling aspects of this method. The example problem demonstrates that this method can be applied with success to a wide range of structural dynamic problems and results in significant cost savings