Buckling behaviour of imperfect axially compressed cylinder with an axial crack

Abstract

This paper studies the buckling behaviour of cylindrical shell structures with an axial crack subjected to axial compression. This work is both experimental and theoretical. The results of the test on four laboratory scale mild steel cylinders and the associated theoretical estimation of the buckling loads for a cylinder with no cracks are provided. The geometry parameters of the cylinder were assumed as follows: the radius-to-thickness ratio (R/t) was taken as 100, while the axial length-to-thickness ratio L/R, was 2.2. The nominal thickness of the specimen was 0.5 mm. Cylinders had an axial crack introduced to a fraction of the cylinder's axial length. The magnitude of the crack length-to-cylinder axial length varies between 0 and 0.15. All four cylinders were subjected to axial compression using an instron universal testing machine. The experimental results reveal that the load carrying capacity of the cylindrical shells is strongly dependent on the crack length, i.e., increasing the crack length leads to a decrease in the buckling load of the cylindrical shells. As an example, the cylinder with an axial crack extending by 15% of its axial length will lead to an approximate reduction of 31% in the load carrying capacity of the shell.

Nonlinear Buckling Analysis of Steel Cylindrical Shell with Elliptical Cut-out Subjected to Longitudinal Compressive Load

“…Besides, the study also included the location and the number of holes, and the results indicate that the buckling load is sensitive to the angle or circumferential size of the cut-out. Ifayefunmi and Fadzullah [9] and Estekanchi and Vafai [10] developed a finite element code capable of generating structural models of cylindrical shells with cracks of varying length and orientation. The study considered the buckling analysis of a circular cylindrical shell subjected to tension and compression loads.…”