Influence of initial geometrical imperfections on vibrations of axially compressed stiffened cylindrical shells

The vibrations of stiffened cylindrical shells having axisymmetric or asymmetric initial geometrical imperfections and axial preload are analyzed. The analysis is based on a solution of the von Kárman-Donnell non-linear shell equations, an “exact” solution of the compatibility equation, and a first order approximation by the Galerkin method of the equilibrium equation. The stiffeners are closely spaced and “smeared” stiffener theory is employed. The results of an extensive parametric study carried out on shells similar to those used in vibration and buckling tests at the Technion show that stiffening of the shell will lower the imperfection-sensitivity of its free vibrations, but the decrease depends on the type of stiffening (stringers or rings), the mode shapes of the vibration and the imperfection, the stiffener strength and eccentricity. The imperfection-sensitivity decrease, caused by the stiffeners, is greater for vibration mode shapes with high imperfection-sensitivity than for other vibration mode shapes. The sensitivity differences between stringer and ring-stiffened shells depend especially on the vibration and the imperfection mode shapes, and on their coupling. Small imperfections change the natural frequencies of stiffened shells in the same directions as for isotropic shells, but to a smaller extent. The frequency dependence on the external load is also strongly affected by the imperfection mode shape. The results correlate well with earlier ones for isotropic shells.     

Modal densities of stiffened,axially loaded cylindrical shells

Donnell type equations are used to calculate modal densities of thin cylindrical shells, stiffened by closely spaced eccentric rings and stringers, and subjected to axial stresses. The formulation presented degenerates to known results for unstiffened, unloaded shells. The effects of stiffeners and axial stresses on modal densities are examined by numerous examples, and qualitative conclusions referring to radiation efficiency and transmission ratio of the stiffened shells are drawn.     

ON THE FREE VIBRATION OF STIFFENED SHALLOW SHELLS

A finite element analysis for free vibration behaviour of doubly curved stiffened shallow shells is presented. The stiffened shell element is obtained by the appropriate combinations of the eight-/nine-node doubly curved isoparametric thin shallow shell element with the three-node curved isoparametric beam element. The shell types examined are the elliptic and hyperbolic paraboloids, the hypar and the conoidal shells. The accuracy of the formulation is established by comparing some of the authors' results of specific problems with those available in the literature. Numerical results of additional stiffened shells are also presented to study the effects of various parameters of shells and stiffeners such as orientation (i.e., along x -/y -/both x and y directions), type (concentric, eccentric at top and eccentric at bottom) and number of stiffeners, stiffener depth to shell thickness ratio, and aspect ratio, shallowness and boundary conditions of shells on free vibration characteristics.     

The receptance method applied to ring-stiffened cylindrical shells: Analysis of modal characteristics

The receptance method is applied to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of circular cylindrical shells stiffened by rings. The receptances of cylindrical shell and of a ring to forces in the radial and circumferential directions are derived in terms of the modal characteristics of each. A matrix equation of free vibration, which must be solved by an iterative technique, results by eliminating the angular variable. An iterative solution is practical, since the size of the matrices remains at two times the number of stiffening rings, regardless of the number of modes of the unstiffened cylinder and rings included in the solution. The validity of the method is demonstrated by comparing results for specific cases with the results obtained theoretically and experimentally by others. When various stiffener configurations are being considered for a given cylindrical shell, the modal characteristics of the shell without stiffeners may be calculated once and used repeatedly to calculate the frequencies of the stiffened shell configurations. The form of the results offers potential for simplifications which are presented in a companion paper.     

A stiffness-type analysis of the vibration of a class of stiffened plates

For rectangular panels having stiffeners in one direction and one pair of sides simply supported, an approximate method for the calculation of natural frequencies and mode shapes is developed. Modal characteristics are calculated for a number of examples and are compared with results obtained from a more rigorous analysis. It is concluded that the proposed method yields very good estimates of mode shapes and natural frequencies, and that calculated modal stresses are sufficiently accurate for practical purposes.     

Multi-objective optimization of ring stiffened cylindrical shells using a genetic algorithm

In this paper, the genetic algorithm (GA) method is used for the multi-objective optimization of ring stiffened cylindrical shells. The objective functions seek the maximum fundamental frequency and minimum structural weight of the shell subjected to four constraints including the fundamental frequency, the structural weight, the axial buckling load, and the radial buckling load. The optimization process contains six design variables including the shell thickness, the number of stiffeners, the width and height of stiffeners, the stiffeners eccentricity distribution order, and the stiffeners spacing distribution order. The real coding scheme is used for representing the solution string, while the generation number-based adaptive penalty function is applied for penalizing infeasible solutions. In analytical solution, the Ritz method is applied and the stiffeners are treated as discrete elements. Some examples of simply supported cylindrical shells with nonuniform eccentricity distribution and nonuniform rings spacing distribution are provided to demonstrate the optimality of the solution obtained by the GA technique. The effects of objective weighting coefficients and bounding values of the design variables on the optimum solution are studied for various cases. The results show that the optimal solution can vary with the weighting coefficients significantly. It is also found that extreme reduction and augmentation in turn in the structural weight and fundamental frequency can be simultaneously achieved by selecting suitable stiffeners’ geometrical parameters and distributions. Furthermore, the bounding values of the design variables have great effects on the optimum results.     

Stability of cylindrical shells subjected to random loadings

The definitions of almost-sure stability and mean-square stability and the corresponding stability theorems are presented. The dynamics of a cylindrical shell according to Donnell's linear theory is consided and several criteria for the stability of the equilibrium state of the shell are established. Several special cases of stationary, non-stationary, white and non-white random loadings are considered. The stability of cylindrical shells during earthquake strong motions is briefly discussed.     

Smearing technique for vibration analysis of simply supported cross-stiffened and doubly curved thin rectangular shells

Plates stiffened with ribs can be modeled as equivalent homogeneous isotropic or orthotropic plates. Modeling such an equivalent smeared plate numerically, say, with the finite element method requires far less computer resources than modeling the complete stiffened plate. This may be important when a number of stiffened plates are combined in a complicated assembly composed of many plate panels. However, whereas the equivalent smeared plate technique is well established and recently improved for flat panels, there is no similar established technique for doubly curved stiffened shells. In this paper the improved smeared plate technique is combined with the equation of motion for a doubly curved thin rectangular shell, and a solution is offered for using the smearing technique for stiffened shell structures. The developed prediction technique is validated by comparing natural frequencies and mode shapes as well as forced responses from simulations based on the smeared theory with results from experiments with a doubly curved cross-stiffened shell. Moreover, natural frequencies of cross-stiffened panels determined by finite element simulations that include the exact cross-sectional geometries of panels with cross-stiffeners are compared with predictions based on the smeared theory for a range of different panel curvatures. Good agreement is found.     

Axisymmetric vibration of prestressed non-uniform cantilever cylindrical shells

The extended Galerkin method has been used in the investigation of axially loaded clamped-free homogeneous, isotropic and elastic cylindrical shells. Both mass and stiffnesses are considered to vary along the longitudinal direction. Legendre polynomials have been used as shape functions which lead to a simple and systematic procedure in determining the natural frequencies and mode shapes. Some numerical results are presented.     

THE EFFECTS OF LARGE VIBRATION AMPLITUDES ON THE MODE SHAPES AND NATURAL FREQUENCIES OF THIN ELASTIC SHELLS. PART II: A NEW APPROACH FOR FREE TRANSVERSE CONSTRAINED VIBRATION OF CYLINDRICAL SHELLS

The non-linear dynamic behaviour of infinitely long circular cylindrical shells in the case of plane strains is examined and results are compared with previous studies. A theoretical model based on Hamilton's principle and spectral analysis previously developed for non-linear vibration of thin straight structures (beams and plates) is extended here to shell-type structures, reducing the large-amplitude free vibration problem to the solution of a set of non-linear algebraic equations. In the present work, the transverse displacement is assumed to be harmonic and is expanded in the form of a finite series of functions corresponding to the constrained vibrations, which exclude the axisymmetric displacements. The non-linear strain energy is expressed by taking into account the non-linear terms due to the considerable stretching of the shell middle surface induced by large deflections. It has been shown that the model presented here gives new results for infinitely long circular cylindrical shells and can lead to a good approximation for determining the fundamental longitudinal mode shape and the associated higher circumferencial mode shapes (n>3) of simply supported circular cylindrical shells of finite length. The non-linear results at small vibration amplitudes are compared with linear experimental and theoretical results obtained by several authors for simply supported shells. Numerical results (non-linear frequencies, vibration amplitudes and basic function contributions) of infinite shells associated to the first four mode shapes of free vibrations, are obtained, using a multi-mode approach and are summarized in tables. Good agreement is found with results from previous studies for both small and large amplitudes of vibration. The non-linear mode shapes are plotted and discussed for different thickness to radius ratios. The distributions of the bending stresses associated with the mode shapes are given and compared with those obtained via the linear theory.     

Space harmonic analysis of sound radiation from a submerged periodic ring-stiffened cylindrical shell

An analytical method is developed to study radiated sound power characteristics from an infinite submerged periodically stiffened cylindrical shell excited by a radial cosine harmonic line force. The harmonic motion of the shell and the pressure field in the fluid are described by Flügge shell equations and Helmholtz equation, respectively. By using periodic theory of space harmonic analysis, the response of the periodic structure to harmonic excitations has been obtained by expanding it in terms of a series of space harmonics. Radiated sound power on the shell wall along the axial direction and the influence of different parameters on the results are studied, respectively. A conclusion is drawn that the stiffeners have a great influence at low and high frequencies while have a slight influence at intermediate frequencies for low circumferential mode orders. The work will give some guidelines for noise reduction of this kind of shell.     

Nonlinear vibration of functionally graded circular cylindrical shells based on improved Donnell equations

In the present work, the study of the nonlinear vibration of a functionally graded cylindrical shell subjected to axial and transverse mechanical loads is presented. Material properties are graded in the thickness direction of the shell according to a simple power law distribution in terms of volume fractions of the material constituents. Governing equations are derived using improved Donnell shell theory ignoring the shallowness of cylindrical shells and kinematic nonlinearity is taken into consideration. One-term approximate solution is assumed to satisfy simply supported boundary conditions. The Galerkin method, the Volmir's assumption and fourth-order Runge–Kutta method are used for dynamical analysis of shells to give explicit expressions of natural frequencies, nonlinear frequency–amplitude relation and nonlinear dynamic responses. Numerical results show the effects of characteristics of functionally graded materials, pre-loaded axial compression and dimensional ratios on the dynamical behavior of shells. The proposed results are validated by comparing with those in the literature.     

TRANSIENT ANALYSIS OF RING-STIFFENED COMPOSITE CYLINDRICAL SHELLS WITH BOTH EDGES CLAMPED

A theoretical method is developed to investigate the effects of ring stiffeners on vibration characteristics and transient responses for the ring-stiffened composite cylindrical shells subjected to the step pulse loading. Love's thin shell theory combined with the discrete stiffener theory to consider the ring stiffening effect is adopted to formulate the theoretical model. The ring stiffeners are laminated with a composite material and have a uniform rectangular cross-section. The Rayleigh-Ritz procedure is applied to obtain the frequency equation. The modal analysis technique is used to develop the analytical solutions of the transient response. The analysis is based on an expansion of the loads, displacements in the double Fourier series that satisfy the boundary conditions. The effect of stiffener's eccentricity, number, size, and position on transient response of the shells is examined. The theoretical results are verified by comparison with FEM results.     

正交加筋板声透射的板梁理论模型研究

为了研究正交加筋板的声透射问题,基于经典薄板和梁振动理论,建立了正交加筋板声透射的板梁理论模型。首先通过分析加强筋的受迫弯曲和扭转运动,求得了平板和加强筋线接触之间的反力和反力矩,然后将其引入到平板振动控制方程中,得到了正交加筋板声振方程,最后采用空间谐波展开法求解该方程得到了传声损失的表达式;在此基础上,首先研究了无限大平板和单向加筋的隔声性能,通过与解析解及两种简化模型的计算结果作对比,验证了所建理论模型的有效性;并进一步研究了加筋形式对正交加筋板隔声性能的影响。结果表明:选择合适的加筋形式可以有效避开结构的隔声波谷。      

Vibrations of stiffened cylinders with cutouts

An approximate method of determining the free vibration characteristics of ring and/or stringer-stiffened cylindrical shells with cutouts is presented in this paper. The method is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz technique in which beam characteristic functions (axially) and trigonometric functions (circumferentially) are used in the displacement series for the shell reference surface. It was found that the cutouts generally tend to decrease the frequencies. This effect is the largest on the fundamental frequency. Physically this means that a cutout reduces the effective shell stiffness to a greater extent than it does the effective mass. The mode shapes display strong coupling of the distinct wave forms of an otherwise uniform shell. They also reveal the possibility of peak amplitudes in the normal displacements both near and away from the edges of the cutouts. The reductions in the lower frequencies (caused by cutouts) for the stiffened shell were found to be less than those for the unstiffened shell.     

Large amplitude flexural vibration of eccentrically stiffened plates

The large amplitude free flexural vibrations of thin, orthotropic, eccentrically and lightly stiffened elastic rectangular plates are investigated. Clamped boundary conditions with movable in-plane edge conditions are assumed. A simple modal form of one-term transverse displacement is used and in-plane displacements are made to satisfy the in-plane equilibrium equations. By using Lagrange's equation, the modal equations for the nonlinear free vibration of stiffened plates are obtained for the cases when the stiffeners are assumed to be smeared out over the entire surface of the plate, and when the stiffeners are located at finite intervals. Numerical results are obtained for various possibilities of stiffening and for different aspect ratios of the plate. By particularizing the problem to different known cases, the results obtained here are compared with available analytical and experimental results, and the agreement is good.     

Free vibration analysis of functionally graded conical shells and annular plates using the Haar wavelet method

The main aim of this paper is to provide a simple yet efficient solution for the free vibration analysis of functionally graded (FG) conical shells and annular plates. A solution approach based on Haar wavelet is introduced and the first-order shear deformation shell theory is adopted to formulate the theoretical model. The material properties of the shells are assumed to vary continuously in the thickness direction according to general four-parameter power-law distributions in terms of volume fractions of the constituents. The separation of variables is first performed; then Haar wavelet discretization is applied with respect to the axial direction and Fourier series is assumed with respect to the circumferential direction. The constants appearing from the integrating process are determined by boundary conditions, and thus the partial differential equations are transformed into algebraic equations. Then natural frequencies of the FG shells are obtained by solving algebraic equations. Accuracy and reliability of the current method are validated by comparing the present results with the existing solutions. Effects of some geometrical and material parameters on the natural frequencies of shells are discussed and some selected mode shapes are given for illustrative purposes. It’s found that accurate frequencies can be obtained by using a small number of collocation points and boundary conditions can be easily achieved. The advantages of this current solution method consist in its simplicity, fast convergence and excellent accuracy.     

Use of lagrange multipliers with polynomial series for dynamic analysis of constrained plates part I: Polynomial series

A theory for prediction of the dynamic response of a constrained plate is presented here. The boundaries of the plate may be partially fixed, its dynamic loading is due to elastically mounted vibrating machines and its constraints include beam-like stiffeners. The theory yields the eigenvalues and modal shapes of the plate and stiffeners which comprise the system. The solution, given in Part I, is based on Galerkin's method combined with use of special polynomial series presented by Kantorovich and Krylov. These eigenvalues are used in Part II [1] for response analysis of the complete system and the eigenvalues of the complete system will be obtained by the application of Lagrange equations and multipliers. The various coefficients used in the process are presented in the Appendices to the work. Comparisons with published results show good agreement.     

Axisymmetric vibrations of laminated conical shells of variable thickness

Axisymmetric free vibrations of laminated conical shells with a linear thickness variation in the meridional direction are studied. A Rayleigh-Ritz procedure is adopted for the analysis. A general stacking arrangement with orthotropic layers is considered. Classical thin shell theory is used. Assumed displacement functions are algebraic polynomials in transformed meridional co-ordinate. Parametric studies are presented to illustrate the effects of geometric, material and coupling parameters and of the boundary conditions on the frequencies and mode shapes.     

Simplified prediction of the modal characteristics of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells

Two simplified means of predicting the modal characteristics of ring-stiffened circular cylindrical shells are developed. These approaches are based on the receptance method and use the modal characteristics of the unstiffened cylinder and of the rings as inputs. In the first approach simplicity is achieved while retaining accuracy by confining the geometry to a cylindrical shell with simply supported ends stiffened by identical, equally-spaced rings. For this not uncommon configuration, a single non-matrix frequency equation is developed which can be solved surely and rapidly by a numerical method. The second approach is more general and provides insight into the effects of ring stiffeners. The results are not as precise as the first approach, but the calculations are simple enough to be carried out at one's desk given the modal characteristics of the unstiffened cylindrical shell and of the rings.