Nonlinear dynamic analysis of creased shells

Recent studies analyze the behavior of advanced shell structures, like foldable, multistable or morphing shell structures. Simulating a thin foldable curved structure is not a trivial task: the structure may go through many snapping transitions from a stable configuration to another. Then, one could claim arc-length methods or use a dynamic approach to perform such simulations. This work presents a geometrically exact shell model for nonlinear dynamic analysis of shells. An updated Lagrangian framework is used for describing kinematics. Several numerical examples of folding a thin dome are presented, including creased shells. The triangular shell finite element used offers great flexibility for the generation of the unstructured curved meshes, as well as great results.