The effect of the edge conditions on the buckling of thin-walled circular cylindrical shells in axial compression

Abstract

The magnitude of the uniformly distributed axial compressive load under which a thin-walled circular cylindrical shell buckles by developing bulges over its surface was calculated independently by Lorenz [1, 2], Timoshenko [3] and Southwell [4] over fifty years ago. Unfortunately, experimental results obtained both earlier, and particularly during the last thirty years, have fallen far short of the classical critical stress values. In a report presenting original test results and comparing them with data published by other investigators, Harris, Suer, Skene and Benjamin [5] showed in 1957 that the experimental buckling stress ranges between 20 and 60 percent of the classical value when the radius-to-thickness ratio a/h of the shell is between 250 and 750. The maximal value given in the paper amounts to 82 percent, and the minimal value to 10 percent of the classical critical stress; the value of 10 percent was obtained with a specimen whose a/h ratio was 2500.