Analytical investigation on the buckling of cylindrical shells under combined non-uniform axial compression and external pressure

Abstract

This paper focuses on the buckling problem of cylindrical shells under combined non-uniform axial compression and external pressure. To obtain buckling loads, a completely new method called two-parameter perturbation method is established. Using this method, governing differential equations are solved and buckling loads expressed by load functions, load parameters, and shell dimensions are derived for the first time. Comparative studies show that buckling loads by the analytical formulas coincide with those for combined uniform loads or single wind load in literatures. Buckling of a cylinder subjected to combined bending and wind loads is analyzed, and confirmed by the Galerkin method for the case of small load variations. Therefore, the presented formulas are adequately validated. The numerical calculations are carried out to analyze the effects of non-uniform load parameters on buckling load coefficient. The obtained results in this paper can be applied to evaluate buckling loads for cylinders subjected to combined non-uniform loads in actual engineering.