Comparison of theoretical approaches to account for geometrical imperfections of unstiffened isotropic thin walled cylindrical shell structures under axial compression

Abstract Thin walled circular cylindrical shell structures are prone to buckle and very sensitive towards geometrical imperfections. The influence of imperfections on the load carrying capacity of shell structures, as they are applied in launcher vehicles is considered by reducing theoretical buckling loads with empirical knock down factors. In general, these knock down factors may lead to a conservative estimate of the load carrying capacity since a worst case scenario is considered. In order to exploit the lightweight design potential of a structure, theoretical approaches to account for geometrical imperfections may lead to more adequate buckling load predictions. Within this contribution different theoretical approaches to account for geometrical imperfections of isotropic shell structures subjected to axial compression are investigated, and the influence of these approaches on the buckling load obtained is studied.

[1]  Atsushi Takano,et al.  Statistical Knockdown Factors of Buckling Anisotropic Cylinders Under Axial Compression , 2012 .

[2]  Paul Seide,et al.  Elastic stability of thin-walled cylindrical and conical shells under axial compression , 1965 .

[3]  Raimund Rolfes,et al.  Robust design of composite cylindrical shells under axial compression — Simulation and validation , 2008 .

[4]  Richard Degenhardt,et al.  Exploring the constancy of the global buckling load after a critical geometric imperfection level in thin-walled cylindrical shells for less conservative knock-down factors , 2013 .

[5]  Johann Arbocz,et al.  The effect of general imperfections on the buckling of cylindrical shells , 1968 .

[6]  Chiara Bisagni,et al.  Perturbation-based imperfection analysis for composite cylindrical shells buckling in compression , 2013 .

[7]  Linus Friedrich,et al.  Imperfection Sensitivity of Circular Cylindrical Shells of Varying Length Subjected to Axial Compression , 2013 .

[8]  J. De Vries.  The imperfection data bank and its applications , 2009 .

[9]  Hans-G. Reimerdes,et al.  Influence of geometric imperfections on the load capacity of orthotropic stiffened and composite shells of revolution with arbitrary meridians and boundary conditions , 1995 .

[10]  R. Degenhardt,et al.  Empirical formula for the critical pertubation load , 2008 .

[11]  Rolf Zimmermann,et al.  Geometric imperfections and lower-bound methods used to calculate knock-down factors for axially compressed composite cylindrical shells , 2014 .

[12]  E. V. Pittner,et al.  Design criteria for axially loaded cylindrical shells , 1970 .

[13]  W. T. Koiter.  THE STABILITY OF ELASTIC EQUILIBRIUM , 1970 .

[14]  Luc Wullschleger.  Numerical investigation of the buckling behaviour of axially compressed circular cylinders having parametric initial dimple imperfections , 2006 .

[15]  J. Arbocz,et al.  The initial imperfection data bank at the Delft University of Technology: Part I , 1979 .