Layout optimization of two isotropic materials in elastic shells

The two-phase layout problem within the thin plate theory was solved by Gibiansky and Cherkaev in 1984. The same problem in the plane-stress formulation was solved by the same authors in 1987 and eventually cleared up by Allaire and Kohn in 1993. In the thin shell theory both these formulations are coupled, which is clearly seen in the homogenization formulae found by Lewiński and Telega in 1988, Telega and Lewiński in 1998, and in a general setting of the layout problem presented in the book by the same authors. The aim of the present paper is to set this problem within the Mushtari-Donnell-Vlasov approximation. The main result of the present examination is the lower bound of the complementary energy found by using the translation method. The translation matrix involves off-diagonal components, which leads to the effective complementary potential of a specific coupled form, expressible in terms of invariants of the stress and couple resultants.