Experimental study on large-amplitude vibrations of water-filled circular cylindrical shells

The response of two water-filled circular cylindrical shells made of steel to a harmonic excitation has been experimentally investigated in the neighbourhood of the fundamental mode. The boundary conditions at the shell edges approximate simple supports. The shell ends are closed by rubber disks to approximate a boundary condition of zero pressure for the water contained. Experimental results show a softening-type nonlinearity of about 4% for a vibration amplitude equal to twice the shell thickness. The travelling wave response around the shell has not been observed as a consequence of imperfections in the test specimens. Those imperfections separate the natural frequency of the two virtually identical (but rotated by pi/2n, where n is the number of circumferential waves) fundamental modes. Experimental data agree well with the theoretical results obtained by using the model recently developed by Amabili, Pellicano and Paidoussis. (C) 2002 Academic Press.