Delamination buckling for composite laminated cylindrical shells in Hamilton system

In this article, a semi-analytical three-dimensional model based on the modified Hellinger–Reissner (H–R) variational principle and a nonlinear spring-layer model are presented for the buckling analysis of composite laminated cylindrical shells with a delamination. The method allows the effect of transverse shear deformation in the control equations of the composite laminated structures. In addition, it uses a two-dimensional mesh and can ensure that the number of variables is independent of the layer number. The nonlinear spring-layer model between the exterior and interior sub-laminates ensures the continuity of transverse stresses and displacements in the undelaminated region by specifying infinite values of springs and therefore avoids the possibility of material penetration phenomenon in the delaminated region. As an application of the present method, the influence of the delamination length on the critical buckling loads of delaminated composite laminated stiffened cylindrical shells is investigated.     

Free vibrations of fluid-filled cylindrical shells on elastic foundations

The free vibration characteristics of fluid-filled cylindrical shells on elastic foundations are presented by a semi-analytical finite element method. A shell is discretized into cylindrical finite elements where shell governing equations based shape functions in the longitudinal direction are used instead of the usual simple polynomials. Non-uniformities of the foundations in the circumferential and longitudinal directions are handled by the Fourier series and an element mesh strategy, respectively. The fluid domain is described by the potential flow theory. The hydrodynamic pressure acting on shells is derived from the condition for dynamic coupling of the fluid-structure. The effect of fluid in a shell, shell geometries, and foundation parameters on the dynamic behavior of fluid-containing shells is investigated. Numerical results based on the present method converge more rapidly than those obtained by the simple polynomial formulation. The method is suitable for the problem considered due to its generality, simplicity, and potential for further development.     

水下三弹性柱壳耦合声散射特性研究

为研究3个并排无限长弹性圆柱壳受垂直于柱轴方向的平面声波作用的声散射特性,采用Fourier级数展开法建立了圆柱壳声散射数学物理模型,考虑了三圆柱壳弹性振动声辐射和刚性声散射,建立了3个壳体辐射声场和刚性散射声场的耦合作用关系,比对了等效散射强度的刚性散射分量与弹性散射分量,并分析了三壳体等效散射强度特性。计算结果表明:当ka_2>40,在频率f=3000 Hz以上频段,弹性分量对等效散射强度变化趋势的贡献可以忽略。当ka_2>30,在频率f=2400 Hz以上频段,弹性散射分量对等效散射强度影响不超过3 dB;三壳与单壳的等效散射强度在0°入射角方位相当,其它方位三壳体等效散射强度明显大于单壳体。本文的理论公式可推广到任意数量阻抗柱的声透射和声反射问题。     

Transient dynamic response of composite circular cylindrical shells under radial impulse load and axial compressive loads

Free and forced vibration of composite circular cylindrical shells are investigated based on the first love's approximation theory using the first-order shear deformation shell theory. The boundary conditions (BCs) are considered as clamped-free edges. The dynamic response of the composite shells is studied under transverse impulse and axial compressive loads. The axial compressive load was less than critical buckling loads. The modal technique is used to develop the analytical solution of the composite cylindrical shell. The solution for the shell under the given loading conditions can be found using the convolution integrals. The effect of fiber orientation, axial load, and some of the geometric parameters on the time response of the shells has been shown. The results show that dynamic responses are governed primarily by natural period of the structure. The accuracy of the analysis has been examined by comparing results with those available in the literature and experiments.     

Non-linear free and forced vibrations of piezoelectric laminated shells in thermal environments

This article is concerned with the non-linear free vibration and transient response of laminated composite cylindrical and spherical shells with piezoelectric layers in thermal environments. The theoretical formulations are based on the first-order shear deformation theory and the von Kármán-type non-linear kinematics. The analysis is carried out using the quadratic C ⁰ eight-noded isoparametric element. The governing non-linear equations are solved by using the direct iteration method for the eigenvalue problem for free vibration and the Newmark average acceleration method in time integration in conjunction with the modified Newton-Raphson iteration scheme for the transient analysis. The validity of the numerical model is demonstrated by comparing the present results with those available in the literature. The effects of temperature, voltage, curvature, thickness, number of layers and boundary conditions on the non-linear free vibration and transient response of piezoelectric laminated cylindrical and spherical shells are investigated.     

Natural vibrations of loaded noncircular cylindrical shells containing a quiescent fluid

The paper deals with a solution of three-dimensional problems of natural vibrations and stability of loaded cylindrical shells with circular and arbitrary cross sections containing a quiescent ideal compressible fluid. A mathematical formulation of the problem has been developed based on the variational principle of virtual displacements taking into account the pre-stressed undeformed state caused by the action of static forces on the shell. The motion of potential compressible non-viscous fluid is described by a wave equation, which is transformed using the Bubnov–Galerkin method. The solution of the problem reduces to the computation of complex eigenvalues of a coupled system of two equations. Based on the developed finite element algorithm several numerical examples have been considered to analyze the influence of fluid levels, ratio of ellipse semi-axes, shell thickness and boundary conditions on the natural frequencies and vibration modes of circular and elliptical cylindrical shells loaded by mechanical forces. It has been found that the value of the external uniformly distributed pressure giving rise to instability does not depend on the level of fluid in the shell. The results allow us to conclude that the dynamic characteristics of the system are specified not only by the equivalent added mass of the fluid but also by hydroelastic interaction at the wetted surface.     

The effect of geometric imperfections on the vibrations of anisotropic cylindrical shells

Analytical–numerical models to analyse the flexural vibration behaviour of anisotropic cylindrical shells are presented. The two models (denoted as Level-1 and Level-2 Analysis) have different levels of complexity and can be used to study the influence of important parameters, such as geometric imperfections, static loading, and boundary conditions. A specific anisotropic shell is used in the calculations in this paper. The influence of the imperfection shape and amplitude on the natural frequency is investigated for this shell via both the Level-1 and the Level-2 Analysis. Imperfections with the shape of the “lowest vibration mode” give a decrease of the natural frequency with increasing imperfection amplitude. The results of the Level-2 Analysis for the effect of imperfections on the natural frequency are in reasonable agreement with Finite Element calculations.     

Control of axi-symmetric vibrations of cylindrical shells using active constrained layer damping

Distributed-parameter modeling of thin cylindrical shells which are fully treated with active constrained layer damping (ACLD) is presented. Hamilton's principle is utilized to develop the shell/ACLD model as well as the associated boundary conditions. A globally stable boundary control strategy is developed to damp out the vibration of the shell/ACLD system. The devised boundary controller is compatible with the operating nature of the ACLD treatments where the strain induced, in the active constraining layer, generates a control force acting at the boundary of the treated shell. As the boundary control strategy is based on a distributed-parameter model of the shell/ACLD system, the classical spillover problems resulting from using “truncated” finite element models is eliminated. Also, such an approach makes the boundary controller capable of controlling all the modes of vibration of the shell/ACLD and guarantees that the total energy norm of the system is continuously decreasing with time. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the ACLD in damping out the vibration of cylindrical shells. Such effectiveness is determined for different control gains and compared with the performance of conventional passive constrained layer damping (PCLD). The results obtained demonstrate the high damping characteristics of the boundary controller particularly over broad frequency bands.     

Instability of cracked CFRP composite cylindrical shells under combined loading

Numerical analysis of cracked composite cylindrical shells under combined loading is carried out to study the effect of crack size and orientation on the buckling behavior of laminated composite cylindrical shells. The interaction buckling curves of cracked laminated composite cylinders subject to different combinations of axial compression, torsion, internal pressure and external pressure are obtained, using the finite element method. In general, the internal pressure increases the critical buckling load of the CFRP cylindrical shells while torsion and external pressure decrease it. Numerical analyses show that axial crack has the most detrimental effect on the buckling load of a cylindrical shell while for cylindrical shells under combined external pressure and axial load, the global buckling shape is insensitive to the crack length and crack orientation.     

Assessment of shell theories for the static analysis of cross-ply laminated circular cylindrical shells

This paper examines the accuracy of classical shell theories (CST) according to Flugge, Sanders, Love and Donnell, with respect to the recently available three-dimensional elasticity solution, for cross-ply laminated circular cylindrical shells under static loads. Further, a study has also been made to examine to what extent incorporation of first order shear deformation (FSDT), in aforementioned shell theories, improves the results. In general, all the basic equations (for both CST and FSDT), of aforementioned shell theories, have been presented in a unified form using tracer coefficients. A Navier type solution has been used to analyse both a simply supported circular cylindrical shell of revolution and an all round simply supported circular cylindrical shell panel. A parametric study has been carried out keeping in view the lamination schemes and geometrical parameters of the shell. From the detailed comparisons of the results it has been shown that (i) Donnell's theory (CST and FSDT) could be in error for certain lamination schemes and geometrical parameters and (ii) improved results for stresses and displacements could be obtained by incorporating shear deformation on more accurate theory like Flugge (CST).     

Tailoring the elastic postbuckling response of thin-walled cylindrical composite shells under axial compression

The buckling of cylindrical shells has long been regarded as an undesirable phenomenon, but increasing interests on the development of active and controllable structures open new opportunities to utilize such unstable behavior. In this paper, approaches for modifying and controlling the elastic response of axially compressed laminated composite cylindrical shells in the far postbuckling regime are presented and evaluated. Three methods are explored (1) varying ply orientation and laminate stacking sequence; (2) introducing patterned material stiffness distributions; and (3) providing internal lateral constraints. Experimental data and numerical results show that the static and kinematic response of unstable mode branch switching during postbuckling response can be modified and potentially tailored.     

Free vibrations of orthotropic spherical shells

The equations of motion for the free vibrations of orthotropically stiffened open spherical shells are developed and solved using a suitable finite difference model. Variations in both flexural and extensional orthotropic stiffness properties are investigated by means of carefully selected parametric studies. A systematic examination of the contribution to strain energy in each mode, arising from the various components of orthotropic shell stiffness, is shown to assist the interpretation of the effects of orthotropic stiffness changes, and to allow prediction of approximate frequency spectra. Based on the analysis of a related isotropic spherical shell it is shown how a modified form of Rayleigh's method provides approximations of frequency spectra sufficiently accurate to assist the conceptual dynamic design process.     

Analysis and optimization of laminated composite circular cylindrical shell subjected to compressive axial and transverse transient dynamic loads

Optimization is one of the important stages in the design process. In this paper the genetic algorithms method is applied for weight and transient dynamic response and two constraints including critical buckling loads and principle strains optimization of laminated composite cylindrical shells. The multi-objective function seeks the minimum structural weight and transient dynamic response. Nine design variables including material properties (fibre and matrix), volume fraction of fibre, fibre orientation and thickness of each layer are considered. In analytical solution, vibration of composite circular cylindrical shells are investigated based on the first-order shear deformation shell theory. The boundary conditions are assumed to be fully simply support. The dynamic response of the composite shells is studied under transverse impulse and axial compressive loads. The modal technique is used to develop the analytical solution of the composite cylindrical shell. The solution for the shell under the given loading conditions can be found using the convolution integrals. An example of simply supported laminated composite cylindrical shells is given to demonstrate the optimality of the solution obtained by the genetic algorithms technique. Results are shown that the weight coefficient of multi-objective function and the type of the constraints have considerable effect on the optimum weight and dynamic response.     

Nonlinear response of laminated cylindrical panels

The geometric nonlinear responses of laminated composite cylindrical panels subjected to (i) axial compression and (ii) central concentrated load are investigated in this work. The parameters considered are: number of layers, symmetric/antisymmetric laminate constructions, cross-ply/angle-ply fibre orientation, boundary conditions and central angle of panel. An eight-node degenerated layered shell element with an efficient explicit through-thickness integration scheme is employed. It has been observed that the cylindrical panels under axial compression exhibit stable post-buckling paths and the number of layers in the laminate for a given total thickness has considerable influence on the load–deflection behaviour. The strength of shallow panels with longitudinal edges hinged, curved edges free and subjected to a central concentrated load is controlled by the limit point load, whereas for deep panels with other parameters remaining the same, the strength is controlled by the bifurcation load. The boundary conditions have significant influence on the load-carrying capacity. The panels with longitudinal edges hinged and curved edges free should be avoided in construction, as they undergo either limit point or bifurcation failure at very low load levels compared with other edge conditions.     

Dynamic buckling of stiffened cylindrical shells of revolution under a transient lateral pressure shock wave

A modal method of analysis is used to determine the response of an infinitely long stiffened cylindrical shell of revolution to a transient lateral pressure produced by an underwater explosion and propagating in an acoustic fluid. The shell is initially immersed, hence prestressed by the external hydrostatic pressure. A theory of dynamic buckling is then developed for cylindrical shells subjected to transverse pressure pulses of different durations.     

Asymptotic solutions of axisymmetric laminated conical shells

The three-dimensional (3D) solution of laminated conical shells subjected to axisymmetric loads is presented using the method of perturbation. The formulation begins with the basic 3D elasticity equations without making any static or kinematic assumptions in advance. After introducing a set of proper dimensionless variables, asymptotically expanding the field variables and then successively integrating the resulting equations through the thickness direction, we obtain the recursive sets of governing equations for various orders. The edge boundary conditions at each order level are derived as the resultant forms by following the variational approach. The method of differential quadrature (DQ) is used to determine the present asymptotic solution for various orders. For illustration purposes, the simply supported laminated conical shells under uniformly and sinusoidally distributed lateral pressure and the clamped laminated conical shells under edge torsion, are studied. It is shown that the present asymptotic DQ solution can be obtained order-by-order in a hierarchic and consistent manner and asymptotically approaches to the 3D elasticity solution.     

Robust design of composite cylindrical shells under axial compression — Simulation and validation

Thin-walled shell structures like circular cylindrical shells are prone to buckling. Imperfections, which are defined as deviations from perfect shape and perfect loading distributions, can reduce the buckling load drastically compared to that of the perfect shell. Design criteria monographs like NASA-SP 8007 recommend that the buckling load of the perfect shell shall be reduced by using a knock-down factor. The existing knock-down factors are very conservative and do not account for the structural behaviour of composite shells. To determine an improved knock-down factor, several authors consider realistic shapes of shells in numerical simulations using probabilistic methods. Each manufacturing process causes a specific imperfection pattern; hence for this probabilistic approach a large number of test data is needed, which is often not available. Motivated by this lack of data, a new deterministic approach is presented for determining the lower bound of the buckling load of thin-walled cylindrical composite shells, which is derived from phenomenological test data. For the present test series, a single pre-buckle is induced by a radial perturbation load, before the axial displacement controlled loading starts. The deformations are measured using the prototype of a high-speed optical measurement system with a frequency up to 3680 Hz. The observed structural behaviour leads to a new reasonable lower bound of the buckling load. Based on test results, the numerical model is validated and the shell design is optimized by virtual testing. The results of test and numerical analysis indicate that this new approach has the potential to provide an improved and less conservative shell design in order to reduce weight and cost of thin-walled shell structures made from composite material.     

A parametric study of the free vibration analysis of rotating laminated cylindrical shells using the method of discrete singular convolution

This paper deals with the free vibration analysis of rotating laminated cylindrical shells. The analysis uses discrete singular convolution (DSC) technique to determine frequencies. Regularized Shannon's delta (RSD) kernel is selected as singular convolution to illustrate the present algorithm. The formulations are based on the Love's first approximation shell theory, and include the effects of initial hoop tension and centrifugal and coriolis accelerations due to rotation. The spatial derivatives in both the governing equations and the boundary conditions are discretized by the DSC method. Frequency parameters are obtained for different types of boundary conditions, rotating velocity and geometric parameters. The effect of the circumferential node number on the vibrational behaviour of the shell is also analysed. The analysis has been verified by comparing results with those in the literature and sufficient agreement is obtained.     

Detuning of wind-induced vibrations of cooling tower shells

Detuning of wind-induced vibrations of cooling tower shells can be achieved through adequately stiff upper edge members. In this case and for double layer reinforcement bending resistance may be sufficient within the usual minimum reinforcement /5/. However, if the cornice stiffness is too weak the required bending reinforcement can exceed the prescribed minimum values by far (Fig. 8). Cracking and thus reduced durability of the cooling tower shell can not be excluded.