Guide to Notation

Shell theory uses many symbols. Some have become standard (e.g., N's for stress resultants, M's for stress couples, Q's for transverse shear stress resultants), but others vary from writer to writer. Below, we give a few guidelines to our scheme of notation and list some of the more important global symbols. We have not attempted to list local symbols, i.e., symbols peculiar to a section or subsection. However, we warn the reader that some global symbols have a different meaning locally. In part, this was forced on us because of the limited number of alphabets and fonts available on our laser printer and we sometimes had to use other than optimal symbols.

General scheme of notation

Bold letters (e.g., F) denote vectors.

Script letters (e.g, F) usually denote lines, regions, matrices, column vectors, functionals, and operators.

A comma followed by a subscript (as in F,θ) denotes differentiation with respect to the subscript.

A prime (as in F') denotes differentiation with respect to undeformed arc length σ.

A dot [as in or] denotes differentiation with respect to time t.

An overbar (as in) denotes a quantity associated with the deformed configuration. The same quantity, without the overbar, is associated with the undeformed configuration.

A hat (as in) denotes a prescribed quantity.