Two-dimensional Hierarchical Models for Prismatic Shells with Thickness Vanishing at the Boundary

We construct variational hierarchical two-dimensional models for elastic, prismatic shells of variable thickness vanishing at boundary. With the help of variational methods, existence and uniqueness theorems for the corresponding two-dimensional boundary value problems are proved in appropriate weighted functional spaces. By means of the solutions of these two-dimensional boundary value problems, a sequence of approximate solutions in the corresponding three-dimensional region is constructed. We establish that this sequence converges in the Sobolev space H^sup 1^ to the solution of the original three-dimensional boundary value problem. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]