THIN SHELL ELEMENT THICK SHELL ELEMENT

"In a shell element the geometry is very much thinner in one direction than the other two. It can then be assumed stresses can only vary linearly at most in the thickness direction. If the through thickness shear strains can be taken as zero then a thin shell model is formed. This uses the Kirchoff shell theory If the transverse shear strains are not ignored then a thick shell model is formed. This uses the Mindlin shell theory. For the finite element method the thick shell theory generates the most reliable form of shell elements. There are two forms of such elements