Who needs refined structural theories?

This paper discusses the question posed in the title and available options for the structural analysis of metallic and composite structures concerning the choice of 1D, 2D, and 3D theories. The focus is on the proper modeling of various types of mechanical behaviors and the associated solution’s efficiency. The necessity and convenience of developing higher‐order structural theories are discussed as compared to 3D models. Multiple problems are considered, including linear and nonlinear analyses and static and dynamic settings. Some possible guidelines on the proper selection of a model are outlined, and quantitative estimations on the accuracy are provided. It is demonstrated that the possibility of incorporating higher‐order effects in 1D and 2D models continues to remain attractive in many structural engineering problems to alleviate the computational burdens of 3D analyses.