Asymptotic method for analysis of a conical shell under local loading

Differential equations of the general theory describing the stress-strain state of conical shells are very complicated, and when computing the exact solution of the problem by analytic methods one encounters severe or even so far insurmountable difficulties. Therefore, in the present paper we develop an approach based on the method of asymptotic synthesis of the stressed state, which has already proved efficient when solving similar problems for cylindrical shells 1, 2]. We essentially use the fourth-order differential equations obtained by Kan 3], which describe the ground state and the boundary effect. Earlier, such equations have already been used to solve problems concerning force and thermal actions on weakly conical shells 4–6]. By applying the asymptotic synthesis method to these equations, we manage to obtain sufficiently accurate closed-form solutions.