In the present research, a unified semi-analytical solution that incorporates influence of the auxeticity (negative Poisson ratio) of the material into elastic responses of the variable thickness functionally graded conical and cylindrical shells and circular/annular plates is developed. The top or bottom layers of the shell/plate may be subjected to general non-uniform normal and shear tractions. The mentioned material and loading complexities have not been investigated before and consequently, the presented comprehensive results are quite new. The proposed unified formulation is developed using the principle of minimum total potential energy and solved using Taylor’s transform, for some combinations of the simply supported, clamped and free edge conditions. Accuracy of results of the proposed unified solution is verified by results of the three-dimensional theory of elasticity extracted from the ABAQUS finite element analysis code. Finally, a comprehensive parametric study including evaluation of individual/simultaneous effects of the auxeticity, structure configuration, shear/normal traction, thickness variability, and boundary conditions on the resulting lateral deflection and in-plane stress distributions of the considered shell and plate structures is accomplished.
