Simulation of buckling process of shells by using the finite element method

Abstract

In this paper, we have tried to simulate the buckling processes of shells computationally. The two major tasks needed to be carried out in such a simulation, namely (1) tracing of the time history of structural response, and (2) application of appropriate perturbation in initial condition when a deformed state has become unstable in order to trigger the buckling process, are first clarified. We then proceed to the explanation about the tools, namely (1) path-following scheme, and (2) stability criteria, which are necessary in order to carry out the above two tasks. We have omitted the exposition about the path-following scheme and touched only on the stability criteria based on Liapunov's concept of stability. Finally, we show the results of simulation carried out on three examples of shell structures. From the results, it could be concluded that numerical simulation of buckling processes of shells is possible.