Dynamic snap-through of an elastic shell subjected to a pulsed load (Q922787)

Dynamic instability ``in the large'' is investigated for an elastic shallow shell subjected to a pulsed load (PL) and a more general nonlinear elastic continuous conservative system with potential energy of the Rayleigh friction and a given initial velocity. An energy approach is used to analyse the dynamic snap-through (DS) of the nonlinear elastic system subjected to a stationary step load. The problem is considered in an exact infinite-dimensional formulation. By using the concept of an equilibrium stability trough and reserve, definitions are given of the dynamic stability of a system, the critical PL of its DS and the astatic critical PL. The latter is determined from the stationary problem and yields the lower bound for those PL values for which DS occurs.