What is it about?
We performed stochastic simulations of the buckling behavior of externally pressurized spherical shells containing random geometric imperfections. The simulations revealed the effects of the radius-to-thickness ratio on the probability distribution of the critical buckling pressure. A theoretical model is developed to quantify this size effect, and a reliability-based design equation is proposed for the critical buckling pressure.
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Why is it important?
This study revealed an intricate statistical size effect, governed by their radius-to-thickness ratio, on the buckling pressure of spherical shells. This finding leads to improved understanding of the role of this dimensionless radius that is shown to have profound implications for reliability-based design of load-bearing thin-walled shell structures.
Perspectives
Statistical scaling is a universal feature of failure produced by randomly located localized deformation. Therefore, we believe that the proposed mathematical framework for spherical shells containing stochastically distributed geometric imperfections is applicable to other thin-wall structures including cylindrical shells. Perhaps most importantly, the demonstrated statistical size effect suggests the critical importance of stochastic analysis even for the purpose of characterizing the mean behavior of buckling resistance.
Jia-Liang Le
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Uncovering the dual role of dimensionless radius in buckling of spherical shells with random geometric imperfections, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2322415121.
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