The fundamental solution in the theory of shallow shells

A series representation for the fundamental solution of the shallow shell equations is obtained by means of a plane-wave decomposition of the Dirac δ-function. From this solution we can produce the singular solutions which correspond to concentrated forces, couples and thermal hot spots applied to a shallow shell with an arbitrary quadratic middle surface. The solutions converge for the entire range of the Gaussian curvature. Numerical results are presented for the case of a concentrated normal force acting on infinite shells having positive, zero or negative Gaussian curvature.