Shell buckling, without ‘imperfections’

The buckling behaviour of thin shell structures under load has been a persistent challenge to engineering designers and researchers over many decades. In this article I consider two unusual experimental studies on the buckling of thin-walled elastic cylindrical shells, each of which sheds intriguing light on the buckling phenomena. The classical theory of buckling of thin cylindrical shells under axial compression predicts that the buckling stress will be proportional to t/ R– the ratio of thickness to radius – other things being equal. But collected results of experimental studies from many laboratories, when plotted on log–log scales, show clearly that the buckling stress is actually proportional to ( t/ R) 1.5 , with the measured buckling stresses being scattered through a factor of about 4 for shells with R/ t > 200. Such scatter is commonly judged to be in accord with Koiter’s theory of ‘imperfection sensitivity’. But that theory lays no claim to an understanding of the empirical 1.5-power law. I claim that a key to this situation is the experimental performance of some small-scale open-topped silicone rubber shells, buckling under their own weight, which clearly demonstrates a 1.5-power law, but with very little scatter. The buckling mode of these shells involves almost entirely inextensional deformation, with a single small dimple growing near the base, separated from the rest of the shell by a narrow boundary layer that accounts for almost all of the dimple’s elastic strain energy. A straightforward, simple analysis of the mechanics of the dimple is consistent with the experimental 1.5-power law. As noted above, experimental buckling loads of shells that are closed at both ends also show the empirical 1.5-power law, but now with significant statistical scatter. A second aim of the paper is to throw light on that phenomenon. I venture to attribute it to the effect of the boundary conditions of the shell. I adduce support for this view from experimental observations on the buckling of a shell with special, frictional end-fittings. That feature produces significantly higher collapse loads, and with much smaller scatter, than for corresponding shells with fixed boundaries; and it permits striking pre-buckled deformations to occur, of a kind not previously noted. It will be appreciated that neither of the two parts of this article depends on the widely accepted theory of imperfection-sensitivity; hence my choice of title. It is a pleasure for me to submit this article to a special publication in honour of Michael Rotter, with whom I have discussed matters of this sort through three decades.