Buckling of thin cylindrical shells under uniform axial compression

Abstract The problem of the elastic buckling under uniform axial compression of an ideal thin cylindrical shell is examined using a new self-consistent theory of thin shells derived according to the Kirchhoff-Love hypotheses. The collapse stress deduced lies between half of the classical value and that value depending on the exact nature of the end-conditions. The onset of buckling, at which the diamond wrinkles first appear, is shown to be at a stress as low as one-sixth of the classical value. This is a close lower bound of the published experimental data. The solution agrees with the observed diamond wrinkling pattern and predicts nominally square diamonds. The analysis is linear and the actual buckling stress is obtained, not the post-buckling minimum. The present analysis is, in fact, directly comparable with the classical analysis. A classical-type bifurcation analysis of the equilibrium equations is carried out to determine the wavelengths under which buckling can occur for a prescribed axial load. This is complemented with a strain-energy analysis to identify the particular wavelength coinciding with the lowest collapse load.