The objective in this paper is to present fundamental considerations regarding the finite element analysis of shell structures. First, we review some well-known results regarding the asymptotic behaviour of a shell mathematical model. When the thickness becomes small, the shell behaviour falls into one of two dramatically different categories; namely, the membrane-dominated and bending-dominated cases. The shell geometry and boundary conditions decide into which category the shell structure falls, and a seemingly small change in these conditions can result into a change of category and hence into a drama.tically different shell behaviour.

An effective finite element scheme should be applicable to both categories of shell behaviour and the rate of convergence in either case should be optimal and independent of the shell thickness. Such a finite element scheme is difficult to achieve but it is important that existing procedures be analysed and measured with due regard to these considerations. To this end, we present theoretical considerations and we propose appropriate shell analysis test cases for numerical evaluations.