Buckling behaviors of thin-walled cylindrical shells under localized axial compression loads, Part 1: Experimental study

Abstract

Thin-walled cylindrical shell structure not only shows the highly efficient load carrying capacity but also is vulnerable to buckling instability failure. In practical application, these structures are usually subjected to localized axial compression load, which is a common but complex non-uniform loading case. Until now, the buckling behaviors of thin-walled cylindrical shells under this kind of compression loading condition are still unclear, and there are also few relevant investigations. In order to fill this research gap, in the first part of this series paper the experimental studies on the buckling behaviors of thin-walled cylindrical shells under localized axial compression loads were performed for the first time. The buckling tests of twenty-one steel cylindrical shells were carried out in this paper and some key experimental details were given. The strain curve, axial load–displacement curve, critical buckling load as well as the buckling modes of cylindrical shells under localized axial compression load were systematically discussed. Test results indicated that the localized axial compression load plays a pivotal role in the buckling behaviors of thin-walled cylindrical shell, not matter from the point of view of load carrying capacity, load–displacement curve or buckling mode. The experimental results obtained from this work can be served as a benchmark for related research in this field of buckling analysis of thin-walled cylindrical shells.