The Collapse under End Load of Pressurized,Axially Stiffened,Thin Cylinders

Abstract

An examination is made first of the contexts in which small and large deflection theories are appropriate for dealing with the collapse of thin stiffened shells. A theory based on an energy approach is then developed to predict the collapse of pressurized axially stiffened thin cylinders under end load. The theory accounts for all observed modes of collapse and shows that, except in extreme cases of stiffener spacing and internal pressure, the collapse load is almost independent of the collapse mode. Experiments on both unstiffened and stiffened cylinders are described. Several forms of stringer section are discussed and values of collapse loads and the wavelengths of buckled stringers obtained experimentally are compared with the theoretical predictions.