Buckling of eccentrically stiffened orthotro- pic cylinders

Abstract

A small-deflection theory for buckling of stiffened orthotropic cylinders which includes eccentricity (one-sided) effects in the stiffeners is derived from energy principles. Buckling solutions corresponding to classical simple- support boundary conditions are obtained for both orthotropic and isotropic stiffened cylinders subjected to any combination of axial and circumferential loading. Comparable solutions for stiffened flat plates are also given. Sample calculations of predicted compressive buckling loads obtained from the solutions are compared with existing solutions for ring-stiffened corrugated cylinders, ring-and-stringer-stiffened cylinders, and longitudinally (stringer) stiffened cylinders. The calculations demonstrate that eccentricity effects are large even with very large diameter cylinders of practical proportions and should be accounted for in any buckling analysis.