Numerical Study on Buckling Behaviour of Composite Cylindrical Shells under Axial Compressive Load with Asymmetric Meshing Technique

Abstract

AMT is a perturbation technique to introduce disturbance in the model without changing geometry, boundary conditions or loading conditions. Asymmetric meshing technique is employed in the form of a band along circumferential direction of the shell model. The elements size in the band is reduced as compared with the rest of shell to produce asymmetry in the meshing and four magnitudes of asymmetry in meshing are used. Asymmetric meshing affects predicted buckling load, buckling mode shape and post-buckling behaviour. The reduction in the buckling load using AMT was observed to be about 20%. An isolated dimple formed near the bifurcation point and the size of which increased to reach a stable state in the post-buckling region. The load-displacement curve behaviour applying asymmetric meshing is quite similar to the curve obtained by introducing initial geometric imperfection in the shell model.