Mechanics, Boundary Layers and Function Spaces

Concern with the class of problems investigated in this monograph began for me as a graduate student at MIT (1958-62) when serving as research assistant to Professor Eric Reissner who initiated me into the subject and whose influence - whether directly or dialectically - is probably discernable in the contours of the work. My fIrst attempt at a systematic derivation of the equations of shell theory was made while on a summer assistantship with Professor Norman Levinson in 1960. Beyond gaining a sobering reali zation of the complexities involved, I made little progress at that time. In 1962-64 while a Temporary Member at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (NYU) I made a fresh start, while benefIting from my association and discus sions with Professor Fritz John. With the conviction that the full integration of the equations with respect to the thickness coordinate, by means of the Legendre repre sentations, must lead to a clarifIcation of the position of the two-dimensional theory in its three-dimensional context, the necessary computations were completed during that period. Several years passed while I became reconciled with the thought that the material needed to be organized as a monograph. This was done during 1969-70 while at the NASA Electronics Research Center in Cambridge, MA.