Design buckling pressure for thin spherical shells: Development and validation

The suggested before energy barrier criterion for design buckling pressure is extended to the case of clamped shallow spherical caps. It is developed for shells with geometrical imperfections and a new adjusted formula is obtained for design buckling load of imperfect structures. The method is applied to shells with elastic-perfectly plastic material. It is validated by experimental data and proved by numerical analysis based on finite element method. Calculation results were obtained and analysed for different values of shell geometrical parameter. A simple formula for design buckling pressure is suggested and validated. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.