ABSTRACT
Here we use the general theory of shell presented in Libai & Simmonds (1998), Chrós´cielewski et al. (2004) for the modification of the constitutive equations taking into account the surface stresses. We show that both the stress and the couple stress resultant tensors may be represented as a sum of two terms. The first term is the volume stress resultant while the second one is determined by the surface stresses and the shell geometry. In the linear case this modification reduces to the addition of new terms to the elastic stiffness parameters. The influence of these terms on the bending stiffness of a shell is discussed. We show that the surface elasticity makes a shell more stiffer in comparison with the shell without surface stresses.
