Growth of Buckling Instabilities During Radial Collapse of a Ring

Abstract

Conditions leading to the growth of initial imperfections for rings or long cylindrical shells subjected to initial uniform inward impulsive velocity loading are investigated. The work is motivated by a need to prevent buckling of rings during the contracting ring test, which is used to determine intermediate strain rate compressive stress-strain data. A previous analysis by Abrahamson is extended to include deceleration of the ring during inward motion; and the results of this deceleration are found to greatly influence the growth of imperfections (buckling). Qualitative comparisons with experimental data are presented.