Load bearing capacity of an imperfect very shallow shell

Abstract

Elastic shallow shell of translation subjected to the external pressure is analysed in the paper numerically by FEM. Critical loads from eigenvalue buckling analysis have been compared with load levels in limit points of nonlinear buckling analysis. Nonlinear equilibrium paths are calculated for different boundary conditions. Special attention is paid to the influence of initial imperfections on the limit load level of fundamental load-displacement path of nonlinear analysis. ANSYS system is used for analysis, arc-length method is chosen to obtain fundamental load-displacement path of solution, the reference arc-length radius is calculated from the load increment.