Buckling of metallic shells: Buckling and postbuckling behaviour of isotropic shells, especially cylinders

Abstract

The large discrepancies between observed buckling loads for thin shells and the predictions of the classical theory have been a great challenge to many researchers since the 1920s. In this paper, the basic behaviour and characteristics are described and recent research, mainly from the last 10 years, is reviewed. The focus is on cylindrical shells and on the influence of initial imperfections on the buckling behaviour.Examples of recent surveys in the field, each with a certain bias, are [1][2][3][4]. The first and the last both deal with imperfections in real structures and numerical buckling analysis and simulation. The second one, by Rotter, focuses on cylindrical steel shell structures like silos and tanks with relationship to the Eurocode. The third one, by Schmidt, gives an outline of several problems for steel shells, especially on approaches to a numerically based stability design. The fourth relates to applications in aerospace structures, including composite shells and reliability-based design. For a specialized review on stochastic buckling or 'uncertain buckling', see [5]. For an outline of buckling phenomena, including shell types not covered by the present paper see [6].Books: The now classic books by Bushnell [7] on computerized shell buckling and by Yamaki [8] on buckling of elastic cylinders are recommended reading. The shell stability handbook [9] treats various important shell buckling problems of practical interest. The German compilation of stability problems for civil engineering shells of revolution [10] is in handbook style and mainly deals with cylindrical, conical and spherical shells. Volume 2 of the monumental work on experimental buckling of thin-walled structures by Singer et al. [11] contains two chapters devoted to shell buckling experiments and five chapters partly dealing with that subject. A recent book by 16 authors on the stability of thin metal shells [12] is certainly essential reading. It has a focus on cylindrical shells and covers several different aspects of buckling behaviour and applications to real civil engineering shell structures. The first chapter [13], by Teng and Rotter, is a comprehensive overview on the buckling of thin shells with almost 400 references.Eurocodes: As an example of codes, the Eurocode will be briefly discussed. The most recent editions of the European design code for metal shell structures are the Draft Eurocode 3, Part 1.6 (European Prestandard ENV) published in 1999 [2,3] and the thoroughly revised EN 1993-1-6, Eurocode 3, Part 1.6 issued in 2005 [14,15]. Rotter [2] also refers to older codes and standards both of the generic type, i.e. intended for a whole class of structures of a common form, and of the application type, i.e. intended for a certain structural type, such as tanks or silos. The new EN of 2005 [14] permits all forms of analysis and should be fully general for all kinds of thinwalled metal shells. The Eurocode defines two reference strengths: the 'elastic critical resistance' R cr , computed by a linear bifurcation analysis (...

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