A new technique for the prediction of buckling loads from nondestructive vibration tests

The paper presents a new technique for the prediction of buckling loads of structural elements with postbuckling unstable characteristics such as cylindrical shells. The technique introduced is based on the cubic parametric curve defined by the Hermite form,1 which is described in the paper. The technique requires as input the data obtained from vibration tests carried out on structural elements under compressive loading, specifically, the values of the applied load and the square of the measured corresponding natural frequency of vibration. The proposed technique is applied to a simplified cylindrical shell model2 and two cylindrical shells.3 A comparison between the predicted and the exact values of the buckling loads is presented for each case discussed in the paper, highlighting the accuracy of the proposed technique.