DYNAMIC BUCKLING OF SHELL STRUCTURES SUBJECT TO LONGITUDINAL IMPACT

Abstract : Experimental and theoretical studies of the buckling and collapse of circular cylindrical and conical shells under longitudinal impact are described. Various conditions of loading were investigated such as impact with rigid, fluid, and granular media, and such effects as initial geometrical imperfections, edge support, and loading asymmetry were included. In addition, the effect of axial impact at velocities up to 391 ft/sec on the buckling of thin cylindrical shells was studied experimentally. Finally, three problems, relating to the experiments were studied theoretically: (1) the dynamic buckling of a circular cylindrical shell subject to an exial loading which varies linearly with time, using the nonlinear theory, (2) dynamic buckling of a circular cylindrical shell subject to a constant velocity end displacement, including the effects of plasticity and incorporating extremely large deflections, and (3) the inextensional shortening and collapse modes of conical shells for the complete range of end shortening.