Buckling Instability of Sectional Noncircular Cylindrical Composite Shells under Axial Compression

The problem of buckling instability of cylindrical shells under axial compression is considered. The shells consist of cylindrical sections of smaller radius. The geometrical parameters of the shells are approximated by Fourier series on a discrete point set. A Timoshenko-type shell theory is used. The solution is obtained in the form of trigonometric series. It is shown that shells consisting of cylindrical sections have considerable advantages over circular ones. At a constant shell weight, the choice of suitable parameters of shell sections leads to a significant increase in the critical load. The composite shells considered possess higher efficiency indices in comparison with isotropic ones.