Cylindrical Shells Under Line Load

Abstract

Abstract The problem of a line load along a segment of a generator of a simply supported circular cylindrical shell is treated using shallow cylindrical shell equations which include the effect of transverse-shear deformation. The line load is first treated as a sinusoidally-varying edge load over the length of the shell, with boundary conditions prescribed along the loaded generator such that the continuity of the shell is maintained. The solution for the problem of a uniform line load over a segment of a generator is obtained from the preceding solution, using the principle of superposition. By means of a numerical example it is shown that the results predicted by the Donnell equations for the stresses are in excellent agreement with those obtained from the system of equations employed here. However, the radial displacement predicted by the Donnell equations is in error by as much as 20 per cent in the range of shell geometry considered.