Transients in cylindrical shells

Abstract

The propagation of non‐axially symmetric transients in linear, elastic, isotropic and homogeneous cylindrical shells subjected to impulsive boundary loads is treated in this paper. Expressing the displacement components in the form of a Fourier series in the circumferential co‐ordinate, the displacement equations of motion are written for each harmonic. The analysis is based on the concept of a wave as a carrier of discontinuities in the field variable and its derivatives. These discontinuities are determined from a set of recurrence relations which are in turn generated by the use of time‐harmonic asymptotic series solutions to the equations of motion. The method is illustrated by presenting detailed numerical results pertaining to the influence of earthquake or blast‐induced ground excitation on cylindrical tanks.