Buckling analysis of discretely stringer-stiffened cylindrical shells

Engineering approach for computation of stringer stiffened cylindrical shells is realized mainly using the structurally orthotropic theory with momentless pre-buckling state. On the other hand, experimental results suggest that in many cases the mentioned theory provides excessive values of buckling load. The influence of imperfections for stringer stiffened shells seems to be less important than in an isotropic case. Considering axially symmetric momentous components of pre-buckling state cannot essentially improve theoretical results. Specific experiments showed a significant influence of stringer discreteness on the buckling loads of reinforced shells. The mentioned influence can be divided into two parts: excitation of essentially non-axially symmetric pre-buckling and buckling states. Usually, only the latter phenomenon is taken into account. In this paper we show that the first factor dominates. We propose simple analytical expressions governing non-axially symmetric pre-buckling state components. We also propose an asymptotic simplification of the buckling boundary value problem. Results obtained are compared numerically with the known theoretical and experimental data. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.