BUCKLING OF CIRCULAR CYLINDRICAL SHELLS WITH MULTIPLE ORTHOTROPIC LAYERS AND ECCENTRIC STIFFENERS

An exact solution is derived for the buckling of a circular cylindrical shell with multiple orthotropic layers and eccentric stiffeners under axial compression, lateral pressure, or any combination thereof. Classical stability theory (membrane prebuckled shape) is used for simply supported edge boundary conditions. The present theory enables the study of coupling between bending and extension due to the presence of different layers in the shell and the presence of eccentric stiffeners. Previous approaches to stiffened multilayered shells are shown to be erratic in the prediction of buckling results because of neglect of coupling between bending and extension. © 1968 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., All rights reserved.