Buckling and Postbuckling Behavior of Clamped Shallow Spherical Shells Under Axisymmetric Ring Loads

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a numerical study of the buckling and initial post-buckling behavior of clamped shallow spherical shells under axisymmetric ring loads. This behavior is studied for a cap with fixed geometry when the location of the ring load is allowed to vary from the equivalent of a concentrated load at the apex to a location near the midpoint of the shell base radius, and for a fixed ring load location when the shell geometry is allowed to vary. It is found in both studies that a significant range of the geometric shell parameter λ exists such that buckling is accompanied by a loss in load-carrying capacity.