12 Stability Analysis of Cylindrical Shells with Random Imperfections

Abstract

As an example of imperfection sensitive structures, the axially compressed cylindrical shell is analyzed in the subsequent sections. Despite of its simple geometry, a non-linear static finite element analysis of an isotropic cylindrical shell is from the computational point of view quite demanding. For the determination of the collapse load of the imperfect cylindrical shell a non-linear static finite element analysis using STAGS [104] is carried out. The analysis takes into account non-linearities due to large displacements and large rotations, but is restricted to small strains. The stress-strain relation is assumed to be linear. STAGS is designed for general purpose analysis of shell structures of arbitrary shape and complexity and proves to be most instrumental for involved, non-linear shell problems. It is particularly suited for the use in context with automatized Monte Carlo simulation. where