POSTBUCKLING OF ELASTIC CONE CYLINDER AND SPHERE-CYLINDER COMPLEX SHELLS

A study is presented of the elastic buckling of pressurized complex shells of revolution which are formed by the intersection of cylindrical with spherical or conical shells. The studies are based on the general theory of elastic stability using an asymptotic approximation to the secondary path. An axisymmetric finite element is used for the discretization of the shell. First, the behaviour of the individual components is presented for simply supported and clamped boundary conditions. Next, the complex shells are investigated in terms of the buckling load, the meridional and circumferential shape of the buckling mode, and the initial characteristics of the post-buckling path. The results show that the bifurcation loads of complex shells are lower than those of the individual components; but the post-critical path does not decrease as severely as in the isolated shells.