VIBRATION BUCKLING AND FRACTURE ANALYSIS OF CYLINDRICAL SHELL

Shell structures are widely used in civil, mechanical, aerospace and marine engineering applications (e.g. offshore oil tanks, automotive industry, aircraft and submarines). Like other types of structures, they are susceptible to various types of defect and damage such as cracking, corrosion, chemical attack and time-dependent material degradation, which may impair their structural integrity and affect their service life. The presence of cracks in a cylindrical structure can considerably affect its behavior. The effects of these imperfections on load carrying capacity and safety are thus important considerations in the design of cylindrical shell structures. This present work presents a finite element study on the vibration, buckling and fracture behavior of a cracked cylindrical shell with clamped type supports and subject to a time varying rotating speed. Vibration, linear elastic buckling and fracture parameters of a cracked cylindrical shell with time-varying rotating speed are analyzed. The effects of constant rotating speed, crack length and orientation of crack and length-diameter ratio of the cylindrical shell on the free-vibration and buckling behaviors are investigated.