Buckling of thin shells: an overview

process (Rotter 2002a,b). In particular, in the context of the discussion above, it denes different qualities of fabrication, with corresponding tolerances, and deduces the imperfection amplitude and consequent buckling strength in a manner that is consistent with the extensive research on imperfection sensitivity. However, it should be noted that it was calibrated by Rotter (1998a) against the earlier ECCS standard, and that attempts to correlate the empirical lower bound data with elastic plastic imperfect shell buckling calculations do not necessarily produce the precise match that might be hoped for (Rotter 1997b). More research is needed to bring safe design procedures and quality research ndings into a common outcome.

The current situation

Difficulties in transforming research into practice The choice of an empirical basis for design standards has chiey been made because of two major difculties encountered previously in shell buckling research. First, the buckling phenomenon in shells is highly complex, described by nonlinear partial differential equations that, before the computer era, were too difcult to solve except for a few simple cases. Second, unlike beams and plates, the buckling of a shell is generally sensitive to small geometric imperfections induced in the fabrication process. Theoretical buckling loads obtained assuming a perfect geometry often greatly overestimate the actual strength of a shell, so design methods rely heavily on empirical interpretations of experimental data, but this is only available for a limited number of cases. Indeed, in the second edition of Stability of Metal Structures: World View (Beedle 1991), it was noted that the greatest need for more experimental data was in the area of shell buckling. Computational analysis of shell buckling The availability of powerful computers and the development of sophisticated nite element and other numerical techniques in recent years have changed the situation drastically (Bushnell 1985; Yang et al. 1990). It is no longer impossible to solve a specic complicated nonlinear buckling problem with accuracy and condence using numerical methods: indeed there are many proprietary and commercial codes (e.g. Bushnell 1976; Almroth and Brogan 1978; Esslinger et al. 1984; Wunderlich et al. 1985; Combescure et al. 1987; Teng and Rotter 1989a,b, 1991c; Teng and Luo 1997; Hibbit et al. 2001; Hong and Teng 2002) that can perform the task: most are based on the nite element method, but some use other numerical methods. Thus, the rst difculty, that of solving nonlinear equations, seems to have substantially disappeared, although the application of a reliable computer program to a nonlinear buckling analysis of a shell is a considerable undertaking itself. The recent study of Teng and Song (2001) illustrates well the kinds of pitfalls and challenges in such analyses.