Imperfection sensitivity of laminated conical shells (Q2382548)

The sensitivity of laminated conical shells to imperfection is considered, via the initial post-buckling analysis, on the basis of three different shell theories: Donnell, Sanders and Timoshenko. The nonlinear differential equilibrium equations for these three theories are derived based on the kinematic approach, using the axial, circumferential and normal displacement components as unknown dependent variables. The asymptotic technique is used to convert the nonlinear equations into three linear equations. These equations are solved through expansion of dependent variables in Fourier series in the circumferential direction, and through finite differences in the axial direction. Afterwards the Galerkin procedure is used to minimize the error due to truncated series. A special computer code is developed and used for a wide-range parametric study of buckling and sensitivity behavior of laminated conical shells.