Buckling of Cylindrical Shells Subjected to Edge Vertical Deformation

Abstract

This chapter proposes an expression used to calculate the critical stress of curved panels under sinusoidal loading of the bottom edge. These panels correspond to cylindrical shells under differential settlement of harmonic form. The effect of variation in the thickness of the shell was considered. The shear-buckling mode was observed at small n (< 5) in shells of uniform thickness. With increasing n, the mode becomes dominated by axial buckling. In tapered shells, shear buckling occurs at the top of the shell, even at high n. When the behavior is dominated by axial compression buckling, the critical stress is higher than the classical critical stress under uniform compression, this is because the loading is sinusoidal, and is applied only at one end of the shell. The critical peak stress level is low at small values of n, due to the occurrence of shear buckling, which is itself strongly affected by the level of circumferential restraint at the top and base. Greater flexibility in circumferential restraint has the effect of increasing the critical displacement level at low n, for practical geometries.