Buckling of cylindrical shells under non-uniform lateral pressures

This thesis presents static equilibrium and stability analyses of cylindrical shells subjected to non-uniform external pressures. This problem is of practical importance in the design of launch vehicles, oil storage tanks, cooling towers subjected to wind loads and other engineering structures submerged in flowing water. The non-uniform pressure distributions considered are due to: (a) wind at high Reynolds numbers; (b) flow of water on submerged cylinders. In the static equilibrium analysis for the pre-buckled state both Donnell and Flugge shell theories are employed. The results of pre-buckle deformations and stress resultants, when compared with results obtained using beam or semi-membrane theories show that the beam theory is inadequate and unsafe, whereas the semi-membrane theory is conservative and safe for wind loaded structures. [Continues.]