Dynamic Buckling of an Axially Compressed Cylindrical Shell With Discrete Rings and Stringers

Abstract

As an exploratory effort toward improving the crashworthiness of light aircraft cabins, a theoretical analysis was made to predict the dynamic buckling load and buckling time of a stiffened, thin-walled circular cylindrical shell. To provide for the large stiffener spacing in light aircraft, the stiffeners were considered as discrete elements by means of a Dirac delta procedure. The nonlinear governing equations were derived using Hamilton’s principle and the final equations were obtained by means of Galerkin’s method. Solution was carried out by using a Gauss-Jordan technique on the algebraic equations and a Runge-Kutta technique on the nonlinear differential equations. Numerical results are presented for an idealized model of a typical light aircraft cabin.