Critical time of a long multilayer viscoelastic shell

Abstract

The buckling in stability of a long multilayer linearly viscoelastic shell, composed of different materials and loaded with a uniformly distributed external pressure of given intensity, is investigated. By neglecting the influence of fastening of its end faces, the initial problem is reduced to an analysis of the loss of load-carrying capacity of a ring of unit width separated from the shell. The new problem is solved by using a mixed-type variational method, allowing for the geometric nonlinearity, together with the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The creep kernels are taken exponential with equal indices of creep. As an example, a three-layer ring with a structure symmetric about its midsurface is considered, and the effect of its physicomechanical and geometrical parameters, as well as of wave formation, on the critical time of buckling in stability of the ring is determined. It is found that, by selecting appropriate materials, more efficient multilayer shell-type structural members can be created.