IMPULSE-RESPONSE OF CANTILEVER CYLINDRICAL-SHELLS WITH DISCONTINUITY IN THICKNESS SUBJECTED TO AXISYMMETRICAL LOAD

Cylindrical shells with discontinuity in the thickness and subjected t o axisymmetric impulse loads have been analyzed. The impulse loads con sidered are uniform internal pressure and circular ring load at the ti p. The semi-analytical finite element method is used for the analysis. A thin shell finite element with four degrees of freedom per node is used. Three shell models are analyzed for possible reduction of maximu m displacements and maximum dynamic stresses by choosing the discontin uity at different locations. Numerical results are presented for clamp ed-free boundary condition and for various step-ratios in the thicknes s. The weight of the shell is kept constant for various step-ratios. I t has been shown that the maximum displacements and maximum dynamic st resses decrease for certain types of thickness Variations presented in this paper.