A modeling technique based on the scaled boundary finite element method is developed for both static and dynamic analyses of cylindrical shells. A new scaling strategy is employed to ensure that the shell boundaries and the cross sections at the element inferfaces are accurately represented through the scaling process. The formulation starts directly from the three-dimensional linear elasticity theory for cylindrical shells. The principle of virtual work involving the inertial force is applied to derive the scaled boundary finite element equation. Only the in-plane dimensions of the structure are discretized with finite elements while the solution through the thickness is expressed analytically as a Pade expansion. A variable transformation procedure facilitates the development of the dynamic stiffness matrix, which leads to the static stiffness matrix and mass matrix naturally. A laminate model with arbitrary number of layers can readily be constructed. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy, applicability and efficiency of the two-layer model.
