Paper number 336
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IMPERFECTION SENSITIVITY OF MODERATELY THICK COMPOSITE CYLINDRICAL SHELLS |
G.J. SIMITSES1 and G.A. KARDOMATEAS2
1Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
2Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-10150, USA
| Summary | The problem of instability of imperfect, moderately thick, circular cylindrical shells under the action of uniform lateral pressure is investigated. Two approaches are followed: First, an analysis is done based on nonlinear kinematic relations, where the effect of transverse shear is taken into account and an imperfection function is assumed. The Galerkin procedure is employed to solve the resulting partial differential equations. The second method is based on applying Koiter's general postbuckling theory. To this extent, the objective is the calculation of imperfection sensitivity by relating to the initial post-buckling behavior of the perfect structure. Again, a shear deformation theory which accounts for transverse shear strains and rotations about the normal to the shell midsurface is employed to formulate the shell equations. The initial postbuckling analysis indicates that the range of imperfection sensitivity depends strongly on the material anisotropy, and also on the shell thickness and whether the end pressure loading is included or not. |
Keywords | buckling, compression, transverse shear, composite structures, postbuckling, imperfection sensitivity, external pressure. |