Nonlinear bending response and buckling of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells under pure bending

In this paper, the nonlinear bending response of finite length cylindrical shells with stiffening rings is investigated by using a modified Brazier approach. The basic assumptions for the present study are that the deformation of a shell subjected to pure bending can be simplified into a two-stage process. One is that the shell ovalizes but its axis remains straight; the other is that the bending of the shell is regarded as a beam with nonuniform ovalization. The nonlinear bending response is derived by applying the minimum potential energy principle and the corresponding critical moment, associated with local buckling, is determined by employing the Seide–Weingarten approximation. Numerical results are shown and compared with those obtained from other methods, which demonstrates that the assumptions used in the present study are reasonable.