Buckling of cylindrical shells heated along two opposite generators combined with axial compression

A series of tests was carried out on clamped cylindrical shells under a combination of thermal and mechanical loads. The shells were linearly heated along two opposite generators in addition to a uniform axial pressure applied before the heating. The paper describes the test setup, equipment and techniques used. Systems for rapid measurement, data analysis and storage designed for the experimental work are presented. As an outcome of this study, a linear-interaction line is proposed in order to express the interaction between thermal-and mechanical-buckling loads.