Shells and plates are critical structures in numerous engineering applications. Analysis and design of these structures is of continuing interest to the scienti c and engineering communities. Accurate and conservative assessments of the maximum load carried by a structure, as well as the equilibrium path in both the elastic and inelastic range, are of paramount importance to the engineer. The elastic behavior of shells has been closely investigated, mostly by means of the nite element method. Inelastic analysis however, especially accounting for damage effects, has received much less...