Thermomechanical Postbuckling of Stiffened Laminated Cylindrical Shell

Abstract

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a stiffened laminated cylindrical shell of finite length subjected to combined axial compression and uniform temperature loading. The two cases of compressive postbuckling of initially heated shells and of thermal postbuckling of initially compressed shells are considered. The formulations are based on a boundary layer theory of shell buckling, which includes the effects of the nonlinear prebuckling deformation, the nonlinear large deflection in the postbuckling range and the initial geometrical imperfection of the shell. The “smeared-stiffener” approach is adopted for the stiffeners. The analysis uses a singular perturbation technique to determine buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. Numerical examples cover the performances of perfect and imperfect, stiffened and unstiffened cross-ply laminated cylindrical shells with or without initial thermal or compressive stress. Typical results are presented in dimensionless graphical form, and they indicate that the postbuckling response of initially compressed laminated cylindrical shells under thermal load is different from that of mechanically loaded shells with and without initial thermal stress.