Theoretical and Experimental Results on the Post-Buckling of Ring-Stiffened Cylinders

ABSTRACT

The post-buckling behavior of ring-stiffened cylinders subjected to lateral pressure is studied theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical analysis uses the energy method and terms of up to and including fourth order of the buckling displacements are considered. The results of experiments on ten machined ring-stiffened cylinders subjected to lateral pressure and used to verify the theoretical analysis. The theory shows the post-buckling behavior to be stable-symmetric for both the shell and general instability modes. The experimental results are in reasonable agreement with the theory, although they indicate, in general, a lower post-buckling stiffness. For the range of parameters considered, no instability or imperfection sensitivity is found in either the theoretical or the experimental studies.