Nonlinear behaviour and stability of thin-walled shells (Q355044): Difference between revisions

According to the authors (the introduction, Part 1), ``thin shells are the best choice for designers of aircrafts, rockets, naval vehicles and civil engineering structures''. Shell behaviour under growing loads exhibits an essential nonlinearity, manifesting itself in buckling, in a variety of post-buckling shapes, and in rapid transformations from one shape to another. Nonuniformity of the shell structure and loading are the key factors influencing the shell instability, that is the rapid change of deformed shape and development of large deflections. The classical Euler approach to stability analysis presumes an ideal undeformed initial state and considers the solution in a vicinity of the initial state, often delivering improper critical loads. Thus, full nonlinear analysis and its numerical implementation are needed for the investigation of the shell behaviour. Here, the authors study the typical shell behaviour and the complicated branching of the corresponding nonlinear boundary value problems, including primary, secondary and tertiary bifurcation paths. Chapter 2 describes the boundary value problem of thin shell theory. The authors represent general concepts and hypotheses about thin shells, give geometrical and physical relations, derive equilibrium equations and governing equations, and formulate shell support conditions. The variational principles of thin shells are used in tensor form to establish numerical procedures. The authors consider the generalized solutions in displacements of nonlinear boundary problems, because the standard variational methods not always provide the classical solutions. Chapter 3 examines the branching of solutions of nonlinear boundary problems in two or more branches. The concept of stability of elastic bodies is associated with bifurcations of equilibrium forms. An axially compressed rod represents the first example of such behaviour. The bending of a shallow arc is the second one. The theory of branching of solutions of nonlinear equations offers a unified approach to instability models, accounting for the limit points where two solutions or no solution exist. The authors state that under growing load two types of behaviour are possible: the smooth development of a static solution, and a rapid transformation to a discontinuous state far from the initial shape. By solving bifurcation problems, the authors consider nonlinear equations with continuous and Fréchet-differentiable operators in a vicinity of the initial state. Classical solutions are constructed for cylindrical shells subjected to uniform axial compression, and for spherical shells subjected to external pressure. The authors also formulate the general static stability criterion and the energy stability criterion. Chapter 4 considers Kantorovich (Newton-Kantorovich) numerical methods. The authors demonstrate how the boundary value problem can be changed into an equivalent Cauchy problem, which strongly depends upon the proper choice of the initial approximation. A complete numerical algorithm to obtain the post-critical nonlinear solution is described. Chapter 5 examines cylindrical shells non-axisymmetrically loaded by a wind-type pressure. The effect of shape transformation is essentially nonlinear. Also the authors consider shell deformations under narrow band loading and under nonuniform axial compression. Chapter 6 investigates cylindrical panels and elliptic shells under uniform external pressure. The authors describe load-deflection diagrams and deformed shapes for panels with free and fixed longitudinal edges. A numerical example illustrates the shape transformation to a six-wave pattern. Also, an elliptic shell is examined under combined loading (external pressure and axial compression). In Chapter 7, the authors study postcritical branching patterns for cylindrical shells subjected to uniform external loading. It is shown that the general branching pattern is represented by an initial branch with axisymmetric shapes, by primary branches with regular circumferential bending shapes, and by secondary branches with localized circumferential bending shapes. The change of the Fréchet matrix determinant is investigated along the first and second local branch. For a cylindrical panel subjected to uniform external pressure, an isolated branch of solution appears, whereas closed cylindrical shells subjected to uniform axial compression exhibit primary, secondary and tertiary bifurcation paths. The post-buckling behaviour and stability of anisotropic shells are the topics of Chapter 8. A functional describes a layered anisotropic shell under the hypothesis of a broken line. Various load-deflection curves are studied for wind-type pressure and for local external pressure for a two-layered shell, for a shell segment, and for a delaminated closed cylindrical shell. The final Chapter 9 outlines that shells can demonstrate a local buckling, such as snap-off delaminated layer, i.e., a jump to an isolated branch of solution. This book is very interesting, but unfortunately some chapters do not contain concrete equations, explicit solution algorithms and final formulas.