In this second edition, we have added a chapter (VII) on general membrane theory (including wrinkling) and a chapter (VIII) on general shell theory. Thus, the subtitle “One Spatial Dimension” of the first edition has been dropped. In addition, we have updated many parts of Chapters I-VI of the first edition, adding references, correcting typographical errors, and rewriting several sections to improve both their style and substance.

Originally, we planned to write an entire second volume on general shell and membrane theory and to include an extensive discussion of variational, buckling, and thermoelastic theories, just as we had done in the first edition for shells of one spatial dimension. We also intended to discuss comparisons with three-dimensional theory as well as various approximate theories and their analytical solutions. This agenda proved to be too ambitious, so we have settled for the more reasonable goal of what we hope is a thorough (but readable and useful) treatment of the foundations of our subject.

In surveying the vast literature on shell and membrane theory and in attempting to distill its essence, we have come to five broad conclusions:

1. There are far too many papers in the literature on shells that make little or no attempt to study (much less cite) earlier work.

2. There is a plethora of so-called “higher-order” or “refined” theories that do not recognize that the formulation of proper refined boundary conditions requires the consideration of threedimensional effects in all but the simplest cases (e.g., simple support), although there exists a rather extensive literature on this question extending back to the early 1940s.

3. […]