Costruzione di gusci sottili: Dalla teoria matematica al prodotto finito

In this article, we propose a method to construct physically thin shells starting from their mathematical representation. Thin shells are objects of (relatively) small thickness; they are mathematically represented by thickened surfaces i.e. tubular neighbourhoods of a surface considered as a submanifold of the 3-dimensional Euclidean space. The mathematical model is obtained from the equations of the surface and then translated via a suitable software in a machine-language. This permits to construct prototypes of shells quickly and with low costs. The description of the thickening of surfaces remaining in mathematical context until possible, has the advantage to avoid problems that may arise when one pass immediately from equations to their computerization and makes later the thickening. These problems are often difficult to detect and to solve, producing thus increases of costs and times.