Symmetric and Asymmetric Dynamic Buckling of Laminated Thin Shells with the Effect of Imperfection and Damping

Abstract

The emphasis of this paper is to use a thin shell finite element to study the dynamic buckling behavior of a class of thin shell problems due to the effects of three parameters with design significance: (1) axisymmetric and asymmetric imperfections; (2) orthotropic and anisotropic material properties; and (3) Rayleigh viscous damping. Five types of thin shells were considered: (1) an orthotropic annular spherical cap; (2) an ortho tropic, axisymmetrically imperfect, whole spherical shell; (3) an axially compressed, laminated, asymmetrically imperfect, cylindrical shell; (4) an orthotropic, axisym metrically imperfect, spherical cap; and (5) an orthotropic, asymmetrically imperfect, spherical cap. While some basic results are compared with available solutions, extensive new results are also presented. The results quantify the effect of amplitude of imperfec tions, which can significantly reduce the dynamic buckling load. The results also quantify the effects of orthotropic material parameter and viscous damping.