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Published June 1, 2015 | public
Journal Article

Imperfection-insensitive axially loaded thin cylindrical shells

Abstract

The high efficiency of circular monocoque cylindrical shells in carrying axial loads is impaired by their extreme sensitivity to imperfections and there is an extensive body of literature that addresses this behavior. Instead of following this classical path, focused on circular cross-sections, this paper presents a novel approach that adopts optimal symmetry-breaking wavy cross-sections (wavy shells). The avoidance of imperfection sensitivity is achieved by searching with an evolutionary algorithm for smooth cross-sectional shapes that maximize the minimum among the buckling loads of geometrically perfect and imperfect wavy shells. It is found that shells designed through this approach can achieve higher critical stresses and knockdown factors than any previously known monocoque cylindrical shells. It is also found that these shells have superior mass efficiency to almost all previously reported stiffened shells.

Additional Information

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Received 19 November 2013; Received in revised form 2 December 2014; Available online 7 February 2015. We thank Professors J.-F. Jullien, P. Koumoutsakos, M.M. Mikulas and E. Ramm for help and advice during the course of this study. We also thank Professors C.R. Calladine, P. Ermanni, J. Hutchinson, K.-C. Park, A.M. Waas and P. Weaver for comments on a preliminary version of this study, presented at the AIAA 54th SDM Conference. J. Steeves provided the lamina properties in Section 4.1. Financial support from the Resnick Institute at the California Institute of Technology is gratefully acknowledged.

Additional details

Created:
September 15, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023