NON-LINEAR DYNAMICS AND STABILITY OF CIRCULAR CYLINDRICAL SHELLS CONTAINING FLOWING FLUID. PART I: STABILITY

Abstract

The study presented is an investigation of the non-linear dynamics and stability of simply supported, circular cylindrical shells containing inviscid incompressible fluid flow. Non-linearities due to large-amplitude shell motion are considered by using the non-linear Donnell's shallow shell theory, with account taken of the effect of viscous structural damping. Linear potential flow theory is applied to describe the fluid–structure interaction. The system is discretiszd by Galerkin's method, and is investigated by using a model involving seven degrees of freedom, allowing for travelling wave response of the shell and shell axisymmetric contraction. Two different boundary conditions are applied to the fluid flow beyond the shell, corresponding to: (i) infinite baffles (rigid extensions of the shell), and (ii) connection with a flexible wall of infinite extent in the longitudinal direction, permitting solution by separation of variables; they give two different kinds of dynamical behaviour of the system, as a consequence of the fact that axisymmetric contraction, responsible for the softening non-linear dynamical behaviour of shells, is not allowed if the fluid flow beyond the shell is constrained by rigid baffles. Results show that the system loses stability by divergence.