Buckling behavior under radial loading of orthotropic oval cylindrical shells with parabolically varying thickness

In this article, the framework of the Flügge's shell theory, the transfer matrix approach, and the Romberg integration method have been employed to investigate the buckling analysis of a radial loaded oval cylindrical shell with parabolically varying thickness along its circumference. Trigonometric functions are used to form the modal displacements of the shell and Fourier's approach is used to separate the variables. The mathematical analysis is formulated to overcome the difficulties related to mode coupling of variable curvature and thickness of the shell. Using the transfer matrix of the shell, the buckling equations of the shell are reduced to eight first-order differential equations in the circumferential coordinate and rewritten in a matrix form and solved numerically. The proposed model is adopted to get the critical buckling loads and the corresponding buckling deformations for the symmetrical and antisymmetrical modes of buckling. The influences of the shell geometry, orthotropic parameters, ovality parameter, and thickness ratio on the buckling parameters and the bending deformations are presented for different type-modes of buckling.