Snap-through buckling of eccentrically stiffened shallow spherical caps

Abstract

The problem of snap-through buckling of a clamped, eccentrically stiffened shallow spherical cap is considered under quasi-statically applied uniform pressure and a special case of dynamically applied uniform pressure. This dynamic case is the constant load infinite duration case (step time-function) and it represents an extreme case of blast loading-large decay time, small decay rate.The analysis is based on the nonlinear shallow shell equations under the assumption of axisymmetric deformations and linear stress-strain laws. The eccentric stiff eners are disposed orthogonally along directions of principal curvature in such a way that the smeared mass, and extensional and flexural stiffnesses are constant. The stiffeners are also taken to be one-sided with constant eccentricity, and the stiffener-shell connection is assumed to be monolithic.The method developed in an earlier paper is employed. In this method, critical pressures are associated with characteristics of the total potential surface in the configuration space of the generalized coordinates.In addition, buckling of the complete thin eccentrically stiffened spherical shell under uniform quasi-statically applied pressure is considered, and these results are used to check the numerical answers. The complete spherical shell is stiffened in the same manner as the shallow cap.The results are presented in graphical form as load parameter vs initial rise parameter. Geometric configurations corresponding to isotropic, lightly stiffened, moderately stiffened and heavily stiffened geometries are considered. By lightly stiffened geometry one means that most of the extensional stiffness is provided by the thin shell. A computer program was written to solve for critical pressures. The Georgia Tech Univac 1108 high speed digital computer was used for this purpose.