POSTBUCKLING ANALYSIS OF IMPERFECT STIFFENED LAMINATED CYLINDRICAL-SHELLS UNDER COMBINED EXTERNAL-PRESSURE AND THERMAL LOADING

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a stiffened laminated cylindr ical shell of finite length subjected to combined loading of external pressure and a uniform temperature rise. The formulation is based on a boundary layer theory of shell buckling which includes the effects of nonlinear prebuckling deformations, nonlinear large deflections in th e postbuckling range and initial geometrical imperfections of the shel l. The ''smeared stiffener'' approach is adopted for the stiffeners. T he analysis uses a singular perturbation technique to determine the in teractive buckling loads and the postbuckling equilibrium paths. Numer ical examples are presented that relate to the performance of perfect and imperfect, stiffened and unstiffened cross-ply laminated cylindric al shells. Typical results are presented in dimensionless graphical fo rm for different parameters and loading conditions. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.