Postbuckling analysis of imperfect stiffened laminated cylindrical shells under combined external pressure and thermal loading

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a stiffened laminated cylindrical 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 the postbuckling range and initial geometrical imperfections of the shell. The “smeared stiffener” approach is adopted for the stiffeners. The analysis uses a singular perturbation technique to determine the interactive buckling loads and the postbuckling equilibrium paths. Numerical examples are presented that relate to the performance of perfect and imperfect, stiffened and unstiffened cross-ply laminated cylindrical shells. Typical results are presented in dimensionless graphical form for different parameters and loading conditions.