Buckling of pressurized spherical shells containing a through-thickness defect

Abstract

We present a study on the pressure buckling of thin, elastic spherical shells containing a thickness defect. Methodologically, we combine precision model experiments, finite element simulations, and a reduced axisymmetric shell model. We observe qualitatively different buckling behavior by varying the geometry of the defect: either one buckling event or two events comprising local buckling at the defect and global buckling of the entire shell. We systematically analyze the loading path for the imperfect shell under prescribed pressure or volume change and identify three buckling regimes. We then explore a wide parameter space to study the dependence of the buckling regimes on the defect geometry, thus obtaining a phase diagram with quantitative relationships between critical buckling pressures and defect geometry. We find that the global buckling becomes insensitive to the defect beyond a critical value of its amplitude, and we demonstrate that the buckling regimes are governed by the three geometric parameters of the defect, namely its width, amplitude and the width of the transition region across the edge of the defect.