Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

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Ocean Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/oceaneng

Analysis of the influence of stiffness reduction on the load carrying capacity MARK
of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell
⁎
Xu Baia, Weijun Xub, , Huilong Renb, Jinhua Lic
a
School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, China
b
College of Shipbuilding Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
c
Institute of Oceanographic Instrument, Shandong Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266001, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: Load carrying capacity is of importance in the evaluation of the stability of submarine pressure shell structure.
Load carrying capacity During the buckling process of cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure, the total potential energy of ring-
Ring-stiffened cylindrical shell stiffened cylindrical shell can be divided into constant component, linear component and square nonlinear
Buckling load component. Based on the derivations of buckling loads of smooth cylindrical shell and ring-stiffened cylindrical
Reduced stiffness method
shell, the reduced stiffness method (RSM) is applied to assess the role of different stiffness reductions in the
Stability
evaluation of stable load carrying capacity of cylindrical shell. This study shows: (1) the circumferential
membrane stiffness is influence the stability of cylindrical shell largest; (2) the ring ribs have a significant effect
on the overall stability of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells under hydrostatic pressure; (3) the circumferential
buckling wave number of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell may not depend on the membrane stiffness reduction of
shell, but it increases with the bending stiffness reduction of ring ribs.

1. Introduction with experimental results. Kougias (2009) applied a finite element

Thin-walled ring-stiffened cylindrical shell structure has been
widely used in many fields of naval architecture and ocean engineering.
Evaluation of bucking load has been attracting the attention of many
scientists and researchers. Earlier contributions were dealing the
problem in the elastic range, for instance, elastic post-buckling and
imperfection sensitivity (Hutchinson and Koiter, 1970; Budiansky and
Hutchinson, 1979; Citerley, 1982). Plasticity was taken into account at
a later stage, for instance, the work of Bushnell (1982), who examined
the buckling problems and analyzed the post-buckling behavior of
various shell structures including ring-stiffened cylindrical shells. In
the subsequent decades, many analytical and experimental studies
have been made to clarify the different buckling load evaluation
theories for ring-stiffened cylindrical shell buckling (Teng, 1996).
In addition to the linear and nonlinear analytical theories, numer-
ical methods for studying the buckling problems of cylindrical shells
have been discussed so far. Gavrilenko (2003), by applying an
analytical and also a numerical method, studied the stability of a
cylindrical shell structure with a single dent. Gavrilenko and Krasovskii
(2004) carried out a theoretical and experimental study on the smooth
and ring stiffened elastic shell structure with local periodic dents. The
critical load was obtained by a finite difference method and compared
method to study the stable load carrying capacity of cylindrical shell
with out-of-roundness imperfections under axial load. It was found
that local out-of-roundness imperfections due to manufacture have an
influence on the buckling load of cylindrical shells. For out-of-round-
ness of 1%, 10%, 50%, 100%, the buckling load of cylindrical shell
reduces by 8.3%, 37.8%, 65.9% and 75% respectively. Fakhim et al.
(2009) carried out an experiment to study the influences of the shell
thickness and geometric imperfections on the buckling and post-
buckling behavior of cylindrical shell structures under hydrostatic
pressure. The results showed that the shell thickness variation has an
influence on the failure mode, and the failure takes places in the
thinnest parts of the shell. By applying a numerical method, Gavrilenko
and Matsner (2010) investigated the influence of local imperfections on
the critical load of ring stiffened shell structures, accounting for initial
imperfections, coupling stress, and pre-buckling non-linearities. Gou
and Cui (2010) applied collaborative optimization to the structural
system design of underwater vehicles which decomposed into three
subspaces: pressure hull, exostructure and performance. The structural
behavior constraints of pressure hull include the general instability, the
buckling of the shell between stiffeners, local shell instability, shell
yield, stiffener yield, local buckling of stiffener and the buckling of the
hemispherical head. Gillie (2011) proposed a simple method for

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xuweijun@hrbeu.edu.cn (W. Xu).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2017.02.034
Received 16 June 2016; Received in revised form 5 December 2016; Accepted 27 February 2017
Available online 06 March 2017
0029-8018/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X. Bai et al.
measuring the out-of-roundness and capturing its profile. MacKay
(2011) performed an experimental study to investigate influence of
out-of-roundness imperfections on the strength of pressure cylindrical
shells. It was found that out-of-roundness imperfections can signifi-
cantly reduce the critical load. Edalat et al. (2015) applied an extended
Kantorovich-Ritz method to study the free vibration of stiffened open
shell with variable radii of curvature. The energy relationship is derived
by using the first-order shell theory as well as implementing the
assumptions of global vibration mode. Natural frequencies and mode
shapes related to the first five vibrational modes are extracted using
extended Kantorovich–Ritz method (EKRM). Smith et al. (2015)
proposed an advanced, integrated approach to structural modelling,
design and analysis of submarine structures, incorporating out-of-
circularity imperfections in pressure hull geometry, and representing
localized variations in plating thickness using thickness zones.
Numerous studies for strength and stability of shell structures are
investigated to find reliable design criteria without carrying out
experimental study, which makes the evaluation of shell structure
more precise in mechanics performance, reliability and robustness, and
enhances the load carrying capacity of shell structures. However, most
buckling design methods for cylindrical shell still have many limita-
tions as summarized by the following several aspects: (1) the reduction
factors of shell structure in design are more conservative than test
results; (2) in practical engineering, the previous experiment data
cannot cover the actual observed range; (3) the theoretical method is
difficult to be used for the shell structure that are made from modern
materials and are manufactured by using advanced technologies, such
as composite materials or aluminum alloy shell with applying friction
stir welding method; (4) the influence of boundary condition and shell
length on the load carrying capacity is neglected; (5) there are not
enough design rules and data to quantify the robustness and reliability
of shell structure. Thus it is necessary to develop a reliable method for
predicting the buckling load of shell structures with initial imperfec-
tions, and exploring the influence of initial geometric imperfections on
the stability of shell structures.
A reduced stiffness method (RSM) was put forward by Croll (1995,
2006) and by Croll and Gavrilenko (1999, 2000) to evaluate the lower
buckling limit of cylindrical shell and the method provides a good
agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental observa-
tions. Rapid development has been achieved since the RSM method
was proposed. Yamada (1997) developed the RSM method to analyze
the buckling behavior of pressure cylindrical shell. The elastic-plastic
load carrying capacity analysis was performed with initial imperfection
taken into account, and further the final load carrying capacity of
cylindrical shell based on the reduced stiffness model of amendatory
cylindrical shell can be obtained. Sosa et al. (2006) combined the RSM
method with the Finite Element Method to calculate the lower bound of
elastic buckling load of cylindrical shell. The result showed that the
proposed reduced energy model can effectively estimate the lower
bound load for cylindrical shells under uniform pressure. Ohga et al.
(2006) studied the lower bound of buckling strength of sandwich
composite cylindrical shell under lateral pressure using RSM and FEM.
They found that the proposed reduced stiffness lower bound buckling
strength can provide effective for layers with different shear stiffness
and the safety lower bound of buckling strength does not depend on
precise geometrical imperfection spectrum and lateral pressure. Wang
and Croll (2008) performed optimization study on the lower bound of
load carrying capacity of cylindrical shell, to improve the buckling
critical load of the structure with material and geometrical parameters.
Sosa and Godoy (2010) performed the sensitivity analysis of initial
imperfection for a container with cone on the top subjected to wind
load by applying RSM. The lower bound of critical buckling load was
compared with the results obtained by using nonlinear analysis based
on the same model, which provided a new solution for safety design of
container under the wind loading.
Generally, the shell stiffness can be decomposed into axial com-
53
Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62
pressive stiffness, circumferential stiffness and shear stiffness, which
include both membrane stiffness and bending stiffness. Not only the
form of loading resistance of shell structure can be clarified, but also
information about which part of shell structure needs to adjust the
stiffness can be obtained. For the cylindrical shell structure, its stiffness
can be divided as membrane stiffness and bending stiffness, where
membrane stiffness is larger by several orders in magnitude than the
bending stiffness, therefore the cylindrical shell can absorb much
membrane strain energy with small deflection. If most of strain energy
in the form of compressive strain energy is stored in the cylindrical
shell structures, the strain energy will be converted to bending strain
energy once the critical load conditions are satisfied, whose conversion
process indicates buckling. The large deflection shall be accompanied
with lots of membrane energy converted into bending strain energy, so
the shell buckling occurs completely related to the loading form,
geometric shape of shell structure and material property.
Nonlinear factors affect structural buckling in two aspects, one is
the change of material properties, and the other is the change of
geometric shape. Croll (1995) made three assumptions to thin-walled
structures: (1) significant geometric nonlinearity is mainly caused by
change of membrane stiffness of thin-walled structures. The membrane
stiffness of shell structure is related to the buckling evolution, which
causes the shell structure still has a certain load carrying capacity after
buckling. For a long cylindrical shell structure, once the axial com-
pressive pressure acting on the structure exceeds the ultimate strength,
the load carrying capacity commences to decrease rapidly with the local
or total buckling deformation. The collapse behavior is related to the
drop of membrane stiffness of shell structure along the initial com-
pressive direction. (2) Only if the initial buckling contains a contribu-
tion of membrane energy, will the stiffness of post-buckling decrease.
That is, the phenomena of decreasing nonlinear membrane stiffness for
any thin-walled structure will occur when the membrane strain energy
appears in the initial buckling. (3) For each buckling mode, the lower
bound can be determined by the dissipated part of membrane energy.
This paper focuses on the investigation of the effects of different
stiffness on the stability of cylindrical shell. The total potential energy
of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell that affects the stability will be
clarified, which includes constant component, linear and high order
nonlinear component. Based on the derivation of cylindrical shell
buckling load, the stiffness of cylindrical shell is divided into membrane
stiffness, bending stiffness and geometric stiffness influenced by
external force. The stiffness reduction factor method is then applied
to estimate the each stiffness in the evaluation of stable load carrying
capacity of cylindrical shell.
2. Buckling load of cylindrical shell with complete stiffness
2.1. Derivation of buckling load of shell between ring ribs
Consider an intact thin-walled cylindrical shell of length l, thickness
t and radius r with a hydrostatic pressure P acting on it. A cylindrical
coordinate system with its origin placed on the axis line of the cylinder
is defined as in Fig. 1. U, V and W are the displacements in the radial,
circumferential and axial direction respectively. Based on the theory of
thin shell, the membrane solutions of cylindrical shell under the pre-
buckling stress state can be expressed as
⎛ pr pr ⎞
(σxF , σθF ) = ⎜ − , − ⎟
⎝ 2t t ⎠ (1)
⎛ pr ⎞
1 pr μ
(ExF , EθF ) = ⎜ (μ − ), ( − 1) ⎟
⎝ Et 2 Et 2 ⎠ (2)
where E is the elastic modulus of material; σxF , σθF
are the axial and
circumferential stress of cylindrical shell in post-buckling state; ExF , EθF
are the axial and circumferential strain of cylindrical shell in pre-
buckling state.
X. Bai et al. Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of stress and bending moment of cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure (Croll and Gavrilenko, 1999).

By comparing to the membrane stress state of pre-buckling, the V2 =

1 l 2π
∫0 ∫0 (n′x ε′x + n′θ ε′θ + 2n′xθ ε′xθ ) rdθdx
2
equilibrium state of post-buckling can be obtained as
1 l 2π
+ ∫0 ∫0 (m′x γ′x + m′θ γ′θ + 2m′xθ γ′xθ ) rdθdx
U = UσF + u V = VσF + v W = WσF + w (3) 2
1 l 2π
where UσF , VσF , WσF are the axial displacements, circumferential displa-
+ 2
∫o ∫0 (NxF ε″x + n″x ExF + NθF ε″θ + n″θ EθF ) rdθdx (11)
cements and radial displacements, respectively. u , v, w are the dis-
The expression of V0 represents the total potential energy of
placement increments.
cylindrical shell in pre-buckling state, V1 is the linear total potential
For the post-buckling state, the total stress, strain, bending moment
energy. For thin membranes, Croll (1995) presented that V0 and V1 are
and rotational angle of structure can be given by Eqs. (4)–(7). The left
all equal to 0 (which assumed to be negligible). The expression of V2
side of these equations indicates parameters in post-buckling state,
includes a nonlinear component which has an influence on the stable
while the first term on the right side of these equations indicates those
equilibrium of the cylindrical shell. In Eq. (11), the first integral term
in pre-buckling state, and the second items are the increments.
indicates a sum of axial, circumferential and torsional membrane strain
⎧σ = σ F + n energy; the second integral term indicates a sum of axial, circumfer-
⎪ x x x
⎨ σθ = σθF + nθ ential and torsional bending strain energy, and the third integral term
⎪ F indicates nonlinear membrane strain energy determined by strain and
⎩ σxθ = σxθ + nxθ = nxθ (4) displacement nonlinear relationship. In pre-buckling state, the coeffi-
⎧E = E F + ε cients composed of stress in all items denote that the stress state has
⎪ x x x significant influence on the critical buckling load of shell structures.
⎨ Eθ = EθF + εθ According to the signal rules of stress and strain in Fig. 1 and Croll and
⎪ F
⎩ Exθ = Exθ + εxθ = εxθ (5) Gavrilenko (2000), the geometrical equations of cylindrical shell can be
given as
⎧ M = MF + m = m
⎪ x x x x ⎧ ∂u ∂ 2w
⎨ Mθ = MθF + mθ = mθ ⎪ ε′x = ∂x , γ ′x = 2 ,
∂x
⎪ ⎪
1 ⎛ ∂v ⎞ 1 ∂ ⎛ ∂w ⎞
F
⎩ Mxθ = Mxθ + mxθ = mxθ (6) ⎪
⎨ ε′θ = r ⎜⎝ ∂θ − w⎟⎠ , γ′θ = 2 ∂θ ⎜
r ⎝ ∂θ
+ v⎟
⎠
⎪
⎧X = XF + γ = γ ⎪
⎪ x x x x 1 ⎛ ∂v 1 ∂u ⎞ 1 ⎛ ∂ 2w ∂v ⎞
⎨ Xθ = XθF + γθ = γθ ⎪ ε′xθ = 2 ⎜ + ⎟ , γ′xθ = r ⎜ ∂x ∂θ + ∂x ⎟
⎩ ⎝ ∂x r ∂θ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ (12)
⎪ F
⎩ Xxθ = Xxθ + γxθ = γxθ (7)
⎧ ⎡ ⎛ ⎞2 ⎛ ⎞2 ⎤
When the strain of cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure is ⎪ ε″x = 1 ⎢ ⎜ ∂v ⎟ + ⎜ ∂w ⎟ ⎥
⎪
⎪ 2 ⎢ ⎝ ∂x ⎠
⎣ ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎥⎦
considered as the combination of linear components (ε′x , ε′θ , ε′xθ ) and ⎨
⎪ ⎡ ⎞2 ⎤
1 ⎛ ∂u ⎞ ⎛ ∂w
nonlinear components (ε″x , ε″θ , ε″xθ ), the corresponding stress can also 2

be expressed as the combination of linear components (n′x , n′θ , n′xθ ) ⎪ ε″θ = 2r 2 ⎢ ⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ + v⎟ ⎥

⎪ ⎢⎣ ⎝ ∂θ ⎠ ⎝ ∂θ ⎠ ⎥⎦
⎩ (13)
and nonlinear components (n″x , n″θ , n″xθ ). So the total potential energy
of cylindrical shell in buckling state can be expressed as Eq. (8). Further, according to the Hooke Rules, the corresponding stress
V = V0 + V1 + V2 + ... (8) and bending moments can be given as,

where the third and other higher order terms are neglected ⎧ n′x = K (ε′x + με′θ ), m′x = D (γ′x + μγ′θ )
⎪
l 2π
⎨ n′θ = K (ε′θ + με′x ), m′θ = D (γ′θ + μγ′x )
1 ⎪ n′ = K (1 − μ) ε′ ,
V0 =
2
∫0 ∫0 (NxF ExF + NθF EθF + 2Nxθ
F F
Exθ ) trdθdx ⎩ xθ xθ m′xθ = D (1 − μ) γ′xθ (14)
2π
− ∫0 pπr 2UσF |l0 rdθ − 2πrlpWσF
(9)
n″x = K (ε″x + με″θ ), n″θ = K (ε″θ + με″x ) (15)
2 3 2
l 2π
where K=Et/(1-μ ), D=Et /12(1-μ ), n″x and n″θ are the quadratic
1
V1 = 2
∫0 ∫0 (NxF ε′x + n′x ExF + NθF ε′θ + n′θ EθF + 2NxθF ε′xθ + 2n′xθ ExθF ) trdθdx components of stress.
2π Assuming each end of shell structure is pinned at the rigid
− ∫0 pπr 2u|l0 rdθ − 2πrlpw
circumferential edges, then the displacement of a cylindrical shell
(10) which meets the above conditions can be defined as,

54
X. Bai et al. Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

⎧ u = uij cos iθ cos jπx /l Substituting Eq. (15) into Eq. (24), the strain energy of cylindrical
⎪
⎨ v = vij sin iθ sin jπx /l shell can be obtained as:
⎪ w = w cos iθ sin jπx /l
⎩ ij (16) Kπl ⎡ 2(1 − μ) 2 2 2
V ′2 = ⎢ (i λ wij + λ2vij2 − 2iλ2wij vij )
where i is the wave numbers along circumferential direction, j is the
4r ⎣ α
1
half wave numbers along axial direction, uij, vij, wij are the arbitrary + 2μλwij uij (λ 4wij2 + i 4wij2 − 2i 3wij vij + i 2vij2) − 2μλiuij vij
constants. α
μ
Substituting Eqs. (12)–(16) into Eq. (11), the potential energy of + (2i 2λ2wij2 − 2λ2iwij vij ) + λ2uij2 + i 2vij2 − 2iwij vij + wij2
α
cylindrical shell in terms of nonlinear component can be obtained. It is
⎛1 1 1 ⎞⎤
assumed that the third part of Eq. (11) can be expressed by C as, + 2(1 − μ) ⎜ λ2vij2 + i 2vij2 − iλuij vij ⎟ ⎥
⎝4 4 2 ⎠⎦ (26)
1 l 2π
C=
2
∫o ∫0 (NxF ε″x + n″x ExF + NθF ε″θ + n″θ EθF ) rdθdx
(17) where α = 12R2 and R = r / t .
According to stability condition of shell structure, the following
Substituting Eq. (15) into Eq. (17),
relationships should be satisfied.
l 2π
C=K ∫o ∫0 [(ExF + μEθF ) ε″x + (EθF + μExF ) ε″θ ] rdθdx
(18)
∂V2
= 0,
∂V2
= 0,
∂V2
=0
∂uij ∂vij ∂wij (27)
According to Eq. (2), the following expression can be obtained,
Then, the stability problem of cylindrical shell can be transformed
⎡ pr 2 pr 2 ⎤ into the following eigenvalue equation.
(ExF + μEθF , EθF + μExF ) =⎢ (μ − 1), (μ − 1) ⎥
⎣ 2Et Et ⎦ (19)
⎡ A11 A12 A13 ⎤ ⎧ uij ⎫
Substituting Eqs. (10) and (16) into Eq. (15), it becomes ⎢ ⎥⎪ ⎪
⎨ vij ⎬ = 0
⎢ A21 A22 A23 ⎥ ⎪ ⎪
⎡ ⎡ ⎛ ⎞2 ⎛ ⎞2 ⎤ ⎣ A31 A32 A33 ⎦ ⎩ wij ⎭ (28)
pr 2 l 2π
C= (μ − 1) K ∫0 ∫0 ⎢ 1 ⎢ ⎜ ∂v ⎟ + ⎜ ∂w ⎟ ⎥
2Et ⎢⎣ 2 ⎢⎣ ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎥⎦ where Aij = A′ij + ΛA″ij has following form:

⎞2 ⎤ ⎤ ⎧ A′ = λ2 + 1 (1 − μ) i 2
1 ⎡ ⎛ ∂u ⎛ ∂w
⎞2
⎪ 11
+ ⎢⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ + v⎟ ⎥ ⎥ rdθdx 2
r 2 ⎢⎣ ⎝ ∂θ ⎠ ⎝ ∂θ ⎠ ⎥⎦ ⎥⎦ (20) ⎪ A′ = − 1 (1 + μ) iλ
⎪ 12 2
⎪ A′13 = μλ
Substituting expression (16) into above equation, then it can be ⎪ 1 1
obtained ⎪ A′22 = i 2 + 2 (1 − μ) λ2 + α [i 2 + 2(1 − μ) λ2]
⎪
2π ⎡ λ2
i 2
pr ⎪ A′23 = −i − α (i + (2 − μ) λ2 )
C= 2
(μ2 − 1) K ∫
⎢ (v 2ij sin2 iθ + w 2ij cos2 iθ )
⎣2
⎪
⎛1 ⎞
2r Et 0 ⎪
⎨ A″33 = (1 − μ2 ) ⎜ λ2 + i 2⎟
⎤ l jπx ⎪ ⎝2 ⎠
+ i 2u2ij cos2 iθ ⎥ rdθ
⎦ 0
cos2∫ l
dx
⎪ 1 2 2 )2 + 1
A′
⎪ 33 = α
( i + λ
2π l jπx ⎪ A″ = −(1 − μ2 ) i
+ ∫0 (i 2w 2ij − 2iwij vij + v 2ij )sin2 iθrdθ ∫0 sin2
l
dx
(21) ⎪ 23
⎪ A″13 = A″12 = 0
where λ = jπ / L , L = l / r . ⎪ A″11 = (1 − μ2 ) i 2
⎪
The following expressions can be satisfied, ⎪ ⎛1 2 ⎞
⎪ A″22 = (1 − μ ) ⎜⎝ 2 λ + 1⎟⎠
2
⎧ 2 l 2 jπx 2 l
2 jπx ⎩ (29)
⎪ l ∫0 sin l dx = l ∫0 cos l dx = 1
⎨
⎪ ∫ 2π sin2 iθdθ = ∫ 2π cos2 iθdθ = π where Λ = pr / Et .
⎩ 0 0 (22) In Eq. (28), it is assumed that the determinant of the coefficient
matrix equals to zero, so the buckling load of cylindrical shell can be
The nonlinear membrane strain energy from Eq. (21) can be
obtained. Fig. 2 shows the spectrum of critical buckling stress of
expressed as
smooth cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure (j=1–5, L=2.88,
plπ 2 ⎡ λ2 ⎤ R=50, μ=0.3). It can be found that the critical buckling load has its
C= (μ − 1) K ⎢ (v 2ij + w 2ij ) + i 2u2ij + (i 2w 2ij − 2iwij vij + v 2ij ) ⎥
4Et ⎣2 ⎦ minimum value when j=1 and i=4, where i is wave number along
(23) circumferential direction, and j is half wave number along axial
direction.
After substituting Eqs. (12)–(15) into the first and second term of
Eq. (11), the sum of membrane strain energies and bending strain
energies can be given as
K l 2π
V ′2 = Um + Ub =
2
∫0 ∫0 Brdθdx
(24)
where
⎛ ∂u ⎞2 2μ ⎛ ∂u ⎞ ⎛ ∂v ⎞ 1 ⎛ ∂v ⎞2 1 − μ ⎛ ∂v ∂u ⎞
2
B=⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟⎜ − w⎟ + 2 ⎜ − w⎟ + ⎜ + ⎟
⎝ ∂x ⎠ r ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂θ ⎠ r ⎝ ∂θ ⎠ 2 ⎝ ∂x r ∂θ ⎠
t 2 ⎛ ⎛ 2
∂w ⎞ 2 ⎛ 2 ⎞
2μ ∂ w ∂ w⎛ 2 ∂v ⎞ ⎛
1 ∂w2 ∂v ⎞ 2⎞
+ ⎜⎜ ⎜ ⎟ + 2 ⎜ 2 ⎟⎜ 2 + ⎟+ ⎜ + ⎟ ⎟⎟
12 ⎝ ⎝ ∂x 2 ⎠ r ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂θ ∂θ ⎠ r 4 ⎝ ∂θ 2 ∂θ ⎠ ⎠

t 2 2(1 − μ) ⎛ ∂ 2w ∂v ⎞
2
+ ⎜ + ⎟
12 r2 ⎝ ∂x ∂θ ∂x ⎠ (25)
Fig. 2. Spectrum of critical buckling stress.

55
X. Bai et al. Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

Moreover, the critical buckling load of cylindrical shell under 2.2. Derivation of overall buckling load of ring-stiffened cylindrical
hydrostatic pressure can be solved explicitly according to Donnell's shell
approximate linear cylindrical shell geometric equations shown in Eq.
(30), then the coefficients of Matrix (28) can be given by Eq. (31). The In this paper, the derivation method of the overall buckling load of
expression of critical buckling load of smooth cylindrical shell under ring-stiffened cylindrical shell is different from that used in Shi and
hydrostatic pressure can be written as Eq. (32). The elastic modulus is Wang (1997). The influences of ring rib cross section and torsional
taken as E = 1.96 × 10 5 MPa . The critical pressures obtained from Eq. moment of inertia on the buckling load are taken into account in the
(12) and Eq. (30) are p = 3.81 MPa , and p′ = 3.69 MPa , respectively. present research. When the ring-stiffened cylindrical shell lose its
The small difference indicates that Eq. (32) can be used to calculate the global stability, the two ends of the cylindrical shell can be taken as
critical buckling load of cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure simply supported on the rigid foundation, whose method is similar to
under small deformation condition. the smooth cylindrical shell. The displacement function are taken as
⎧ ∂u ∂ 2w ⎧ u = uij cos iθ cos jπx /L 0
⎪ ε′x = ∂x , γ ′x =
∂x 2
, ⎪
⎪ ⎨ v = vij sin iθ sin jπx /L 0
1 ∂v
⎪ ε′θ = r ( ∂θ − w ), γ′θ =
1 ∂ 2w ⎪ w = w cos iθ sin jπx /L
⎨ r 2 ∂θ 2 ⎩ ij 0 (33)
⎪ ε′ = 1 ( ∂v + 1 ∂u ), γ′xθ =
1 ∂ 2w
⎪ xθ 2 ∂x r ∂θ r ∂x ∂θ where L0 is the total length of cylindrical shell.
⎪ ε″ = 1 ( ∂w )2 ε″θ =
1 ∂w 2
( ) This method is different from smooth cylindrical shell. The strain
⎩ x 2 ∂x 2r 2 ∂θ (30) energy of ring ribs should be taken into account for the determination
⎧ A′ = λ2 + 1 (1 − μ) i 2 of total potential energy of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell. The stress-
⎪ 11 2 strain relationships of ring ribs are shown as
⎪ A′ = − 1 (1 + μ) iλ
⎪ 12 2 n′θ = Kαr εθ
⎪ A′13 = μλ m′θ = Dβr γ′θ
⎪ 1
⎪ 2
⎪ A′22 = i + 2 (1 − μ) λ
2 m′xθ = D (1 − μ) βθr γ′xθ (34)
⎨ A′ = −i
⎪ 23 where αr = Er A /K , βr = Er I /D, εθ = εθ − zr γ′θ , βθr = 6Ikr /t 3, γ′xθ = (1/r )⋅(∂ 2w /∂x ∂θ ).
⎪ A′33 = 1 (i 2 + λ2 )2 + 1 Er is the elastic modulus of ring rib, A the cross section area of ring
⎪ α
⎪ ⎛1 2 ⎞ rib, zr the distance between neutral axis of ring rib and shell, I the
⎪ A″33 = (1 − μ ) ⎜ λ + i ⎟
2 2
⎝ 2 ⎠ bending inertia moment of ring rib with shell effect, and Ikr the
⎪
⎪ A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = 0 torsional moment of inertia of ring rib with shell effect.
⎩ 11 22 13 23 12 (31)
The strain energy of each ring rib can be written as
2
λ4 (i 2 + λ 2 ) V2r = Vmr + Vbr (35)
2 +
(i 2 + λ 2 ) α (1 − μ2 )
Λ= where Vmr is membrane strain energy of ring rib, Vbr is bending strain
i2 + 0.5λ2 (32)
energy of ring rib, and their expressions are given as follows,
The buckling of smooth cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure
has been studied in many literatures, Jones (2006) adopted the partial ⎧ 1 2π
⎪Vmr = 2 ∫0 n′θ ε′θ rdθ
differential equilibrium equation to estimate the critical buckling ⎨
⎪Vbr = 1 ∫ 2π (m′θ γ′θ + 2m′xθ γ′xθ ) rdθ
pressure of cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure. Shi and ⎩ 2 0 (36)
Wang (1997) used Ritz-method to predict the buckling pressure of
cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure. Fig. 3 shows comparison After substituting Eqs. (33) and (34) into Eq. (36), the strain energy
of the critical buckling stresses by Jones (2006) and Eq. (32), where the of each ring rib can be obtained as
solid lines denote calculation results using the present method, and the ⎧ ⎛ 2 ⎞ ⎛ ⎞2
dashed lines denote those obtained by Jones’ method. It can be seen ⎪Vmr = EAπ ⎜ vi − w − zr (−wi2 + vi ) ⎟ (vi − w )sin ⎜ kπx ⎟ |x = nl
⎪ ⎝ r r ⎠ ⎝ L0 ⎠
that the critical buckling loads obtained by the two different methods ⎨
are almost coincident if the axial half wave number is assumed to be ⎪ EIπ ⎛ jπx ⎞ 2
λ2Ikr (1 − μ) w 2i 2π ⎛ kπx ⎞2
⎪Vbr = r 3 (−wi + vi ) sin ⎜ L 0 ⎟ |x = nl + ⎜ L ⎟ |x = nl
2 2 cos
1.0. Their trends are consistent with the increase of wave numbers ⎩ ⎝ ⎠ 12r ⎝ 0⎠
along the circumferential direction, and they have almost the same
(37)
buckling mode, which also indicates that the critical buckling pressure
of smooth cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure can be obtained where l is the distance between ring ribs.
by Eq. (32). Supposing the total number of ring ribs on the cylindrical shell is
(L 0 / l − 1), the total potential energy of all ring ribs on the cylindrical
shell can be obtained as
L 0 / l −1
jπnl L
∑ sin2 = 0
n =1
L0 2l (38)
The total potential energy of whole ring-stiffened cylindrical shell
can be given as

L0 ⎡ ⎛ vi − w z (−wi 2 + vi ) ⎞ EIπ ⎤
Vr = ⎢EAπ ⎜ − r ⎟ (vi − w ) + 3 (−wi 2 + vi )2⎥
2Kl ⎣ ⎝ r r2 ⎠ r ⎦
λ2Ikr (1 − μ) w 2i 2π (L 0 /2l − 1)
+
3tL 0 (39)
Applying the stability conditions of shell structure, the buckling
Fig. 3. Spectrum of critical buckling stress by using Donnell's linear geometric equations load equations of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell can be obtained, and
and Jones' method. the coefficients of Eq. (28) can be expressed as Eq. (40). Let the

56
X. Bai et al. Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

determinant of Eq. (28) be equal to 0, the critical buckling load of ring- Table 1
stiffened cylindrical shell can be obtained. Calculation results comparison of total buckling pressure for ring-stiffened cylindrical
shell by using different rules.
⎧ A′ = λ2 + 1 (1 − μ) i 2
⎪ 11 2 Calculation Ref. [Shi and ABS rules CCS rules GL rules Present
⎪ A′ = − 1 (1 + μ) iλ formulas Wang method
⎪ 12 2
(1997)]
⎪ A′13 = μλ
⎪ 2 2
⎪ A′22 = i 2 + 1 (1 − μ) λ2 + EAi (1 − zr ) + EIi 2 Calculation 66.77 61.209 67.716 69.745 51.47
⎪ 2 Kl Klr results/MPa
⎪ A′ = −i − EAi (1 − z ) − EAi (1 − z i 2 ) − EIi3
⎪ 23 r r
Klr 2
⎨ 2Kl 2Kl
⎪ A′ = (i 2 + λ2 )2 + 1 + (1 − z i 2 ) + EIi 4 +
1 EA 2λ2Ikr (1 − μ) i 2 (L 0 / 2l − 1) GL rules for submarine can be determined as
⎪ 33 α Kl r
Klr 2 3αt 3L 0
⎪ ⎛ ⎞ Pg = P0 + P1 (48)
1
⎪ A″33 = (1 − μ2 ) ⎜ λ2 + i 2⎟
⎪ ⎝2 ⎠ where
⎪ A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = 0
⎪ 11 22 13 23 12
E⋅s⋅βn2
⎪ zr = zr / r P0 =
⎪ λ = jπr / L R (49)
⎩ 0

(40) λ 24
βn2 = 2
(n 2 − 1 + 0.5λ 22 )(n2 + λ 22 ) (50)
2.3. Analysis and comparison of calculation examples
EIe (n2 − 1)2
P1 =
At present, many rules and studies regarding calculation formula R3L1 (51)
for overall buckling load of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell under A comparison of calculation results using different methods includ-
hydrostatic pressure have been proposed by many researchers. The ing the rules mentioned above and the present method is listed in
comparison of some of the formula with that obtained will be given in Table 1. The parameters used in the comparison are: length of
present work. The feasibility in present method can be given by cylindrical shell L0=9200 mm, distance between ring ribs l=450 mm,
following explanations: radius (inner-radius) of cylindrical shell r=875 mm, thickness
t=24 mm.
(1) The critical buckling stress of total stability for ring-stiffened From Table 1, it can be seen that the calculation result in the
cylindrical shell can be determined as (Shi and Wang, 1997). present method is lower than those in rules. It can be regarded that the
Pz = 0.75Cs Pez (41) calculation results in the present method is reasonable. In order to
explain the stability of the present method, Table 2 lists and compares
where Pez is theoretical critical pressure, which can be calculated in
four cases, named as P1, P2, P3 and P4 in Shi and Wang (1997) and the
the following formula,
present method. It can be found that the calculation results obtained
3EI from the present method for the large ring-stiffened cylindrical shell is
Pez = ψ
R03 l (42) lower than that from Shi and Wang (1997) by about 8.8%, and the
calculation results in the present method for the small ring-stiffened
herein,
cylindrical shell is higher than that in Shi and Wang (1997) by 9.8%.
1 ⎡ 10 4α 4β ⎤ They have the same buckling modes in different methods. Therefore,
ψ= ⎢ + (n2 − 1)2 ⎥
3(n2 − 1 + 0.5α 2 ) ⎣ (n2 + α 2 )2 ⎦ (43) the calculation results in the present method can be regarded as stable,
and can be applied in the realistic research work.
where α = πR /L , β = lt (R /100)2 / I .
(2) The total buckling pressure Pn of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell
2.4. Effect of ring rib parameters on the total stability of ring-
using ABS design rules for submersible vehicle can be determined
stiffened cylindrical shell
as
Et EIA2 The effect of axial compressive stiffness and torsional stiffness of
Pn = A1 +
R LR3 (44) ring ribs is considered in the estimation of total buckling stress of
where cylindrical shell in this paper. In practical engineering application,
when one of the stiffness of ring ribs changes, the other two will change
⎧ λ4
⎪ A1 = correspondingly. In order to assess the effect of each type of stiffness on
⎨ (A2 + λ2 / 2)(n2 + λ2)
2
the total stability of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell, one type of stiffness
⎪ A = n2 − 1
⎩ 2 (45) is allowed to change while the rest are assumed to remain constant in
the following discussion. The parameters of ring-stiffened cylindrical
(3) The total buckling pressure of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell using shell are: length of cylindrical shell L0=9000 mm, ring rib intervals
CCS rules for submarine can be determined as l=600 mm, radius of cylindrical shell r=2500 mm, thickness t=25 mm.
The effect of different types of stiffness on the total critical buckling
Pcr = 0.83Cs Pe (46) stress of cylindrical shell is given in Fig. 4. It can be observed that the
where Pe is the theoretical critical buckling pressure, which can be bending stiffness of ring ribs has the largest effect on the critical
calculated by using the following formula. buckling load, and the total buckling stress of cylindrical shell rapidly
increases with the increases of bending stiffness. The effect of torsional
1 ⎡t α4 I (n2 − 1)2 ⎤
Pe = ⎢ + ⎥ stiffness of ring ribs on the critical buckling load is small. When the
(n2 − 1 + 0.5α 2 ) ⎣ R (n2 + α 2 )2 R3l ⎦ (47) torsional stiffness increases by approximately one order of magnitude,
the overall buckling critical stress of cylindrical shell increases by about
(4) The total buckling pressure of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell using 0.3 MPa. Therefore the effect of torsional stiffness of ring ribs can be
neglected in the calculations. Compressive stiffness has a negative

57
X. Bai et al. Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

Table 2
Comparison of 4 cases in Shi and Wang (1997) and present method.

Case no. L0 (mm) l (mm) r (mm) t (mm) Ring rib types Ref. [Shi and Wang (1997)] Present method Error (%)

P1 9000 600 2500 25 20a 9.65 8.82 −8.6

P2 5000 500 1710 12 12 6.25 5.696 −8.86
P3 6000 600 2662 24 20a 12.49 11.38 −8.89
P4 600 150 150 3 3×10 7.24 7.95 9.80
P5 500 150 150 3 3×10 7.65 8.23 7.58
P6 500 100 100 2 3×10 6.83 7.32 7.17

reduced, respectively.
Therefore, the coefficients of Eq. (29) becomes,
⎧ A′ = βλ2 + β (1 − μ) i 2
⎪ 11 2
⎪ β
⎪ A′12 = − 2 (1 + μ) iλ
⎪ A′13 = βμλ
⎪ β
⎪ 2
⎪ A′22 = βi + 2 (1 − μ) λ
2

⎨ A′ = −βi
⎪ 23
⎪ A′33 = ξ (i 2 + λ2 )2 + β
⎪ α
⎪ ⎛1 2 ⎞
⎪ A″33 = (1 − μ ) χ ⎜ λ + i ⎟
2 2

⎪ ⎝ 2 ⎠
⎪ A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = 0
Fig. 4. Effects of different stiffness of ring ribs on the total critical buckling stress of ⎩ 11 22 13 23 12 (55)
cylindrical shell.
Substituting the coefficients in Eq. (55) into Eq. (28), and letting the
effect on the overall buckling load. The overall buckling critical stress of determinant of coefficients equal to zero, then the expression of critical
cylindrical shell decreases with the increase in compressive stiffness. buckling load of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell under static pressure
According to these trends, the ring rib can be designed as slim type. can be obtained from Eq. (56).
2
βλ 4 ξ (i 2 + λ 2 )
3. Stability of cylindrical shell based on the stiffness 2 +
(i 2 + λ 2 ) α (1 − μ2 )
reduction effects Λ=
χ (i 2 + 0.5λ2 ) (56)

3.1. Effects of stiffness of the cylindrical shell on the load carrying
capacity
In this section, different stiffness reduction factors are used to
analyze the relationship of all stiffness and critical buckling load of
ring-stiffened cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure. The stiffness
reduction factors include membrane stiffness reduction factor β,
bending stiffness reduction factor ξ, and geometric stiffness reduction
factor χ. The total potential energy of the shell structure can be given as
l 2π ⎛ ∂U ⎞
V2 = ∫0 ∫0 ⎜Um + Ub − Λ 2m ⎟ rdθdx
⎝ ∂σ ⎠
where Um is the membrane stain energy that corresponds to the first
integration of Eq. (11); Ub is the bending strain energy that corresponds
to the second integration; U2m is the non-linear membrane strain
energy induced by pre-buckling stress conditions that corresponds to
the third integration. According to the stability conditions of shell
structure, the stability problem of cylindrical shell under hydrostatic
pressure can be reduced to solving eigenvalue problem of characteristic
equation.
(Km + Kb − λC KG )Φ = 0
where Km ,Kb and KG are the membrane stiffness matrix, bending
stiffness matrix and geometric stiffness matrix, respectively. λC and Φ
are the eigenvalue and eigenvector, corresponding to the buckling load
and buckling mode of cylindrical shell, respectively.
According to the assumption in Croll (1995), when all stiffness
reduction effects of cylindrical shell are taken into account, the Eq. (42)
can be written as:
(βKm + ξKb + λ′χKG )Φ′ = 0
where λ′ and Φ′ are the new eigenvalue and eigenvector after stiffness is
From Eq. (56), it can be seen that the three items in Eq. (32), were
multiplied by the membrane stiffness reduction factor β, bending
stiffness reduction factor ξ and geometric stiffness reduction factor χ
respectively, which indicate the effects of membrane strain energy,
bending strain energy and stress state before buckling on the stable
load carrying capacity of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell. Fig. 5 shows
the relationships between critical buckling loads and β and ξ. It can be
seen that the relationship between critical buckling loads and mem-
brane stiffness reduction factor β shows obvious nonlinear character-
istics. However, the nonlinear characteristic of relationship between
critical buckling load and bending stiffness reduction factor ξ is not
(52) obvious, since the decrease of reduction factor causes change of the
buckling modes. The circumferential wave number decreases as the
membrane stiffness reduction factor decreases when the structure
buckles, while they increase with the decrease of bending stiffness
reduction factor. Fig. 6 shows that the critical buckling load rapidly
(53)
(54)
Fig. 5. Relationship between different stiffness reduction factors and critical buckling
loads.

58
X. Bai et al. Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

Fig. 7. Relationship between different membrane stiffness factors and critical buckling
stress.

Fig. 6. Relationship between geometric stiffness reduction factor and critical buckling
loads.
3.2. Effects of ring ribs stiffness of cylindrical shell on the load
carrying capacity
decreases with the increase of the geometric stiffness reduction factor,
which relies on the loading form. According to the analysis above, ring ribs plays a significant role on
Total effects of membrane stiffness and bending stiffness on the the total stability of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell under hydrostatic
load carrying capacity of cylindrical shell are given above. Then, the pressure, especially the bending stiffness of ring ribs. Different
refinement of stiffness matrix in Eq. (55) is performed, corresponding imperfections of ring ribs are inevitable due to limitations of manu-
to the axial strain energy, circumferential strain energy and shear facturing technology and the installation process, which cause the real
strain energy. Both membrane stiffness and bending stiffness include load carrying capacity to be far below the theoretical evaluation value.
axial stiffness, circumferential stiffness and shear stiffness. The mem- Different imperfection has different influence on bending stiffness,
brane strain energy and bending strain energy can be rewritten as which causes the discrepancy of experimental data. The influence of
imperfection of ring ribs on the total stability of ring-stiffened
Um = Uma + Umc + Umt (57) cylindrical shell can be calculated by using ring rib stiffness reduction
method.
Ub = Uba + Ubc + Ubt (58) Next, to investigate on the relationship between ring rib stiffness
1 reduction and critical buckling load, the reduction factor of ring rib
where Uma = 2
∫ n′x ε′x dV is the axial membrane strain energy; bending stiffness κ is applied, which can be obtained by multiplying the
1
Umc = 2
∫ n′θ ε′θ dV is the circumferential membrane strain energy; stiffness items induced by ring rib bending strain energy in Eq. (40)
Umt = ∫ n′xθ ε′xθ dV is the torsional membrane strain energy; with reduction factor κ. In that way, the corresponding items become
1
Uba = 2
∫ m′x γ′x dV is the axial bending strain energy; ⎧ 1 EAi 2 EIi 2
2 2
Ubc =
1
∫ m′θ γ′θ dV is the circumferential bending strain energy; ⎪ A′22 = i + 2 (1 − μ) λ + Kl (1 − zr ) + κ Klr 2
2 ⎪ 3
Ubt = ∫ m′xθ γ′xθ dV is the torsional bending strain energy. ⎨ A′23 = −i − EAi (1 − zr ) − EAi (1 − zr i 2 ) − κ EIi 2
The corresponding membrane stiffness factors are βa, βc, βt, ξa, ξc, ⎪ 2Kl 2Kl Klr
⎪ A′ = 1 (i 2 + λ2 )2 + 1 + EA (1 − z i 2 ) + κ EIi 4 + 2λ2Ikr (1 − μ) i 2 (L 0 / 2l − 1)
ξt, and the corresponding items in Eq. (31) can be expressed as ⎩ 33 α Kl r
Klr 2 3αt 3L 0

⎧ 2 βt 2
(60)
⎪ A′11 = βa λ + 2 (1 − μ) i
⎪ 1 Applying Eq. (60), the critical buckling load with different reduction
⎪ A′12 = − 2 (βt (1 − μ) + βa μ + βc μ) iλ factors of ring rib bending stiffness can be obtained.
⎪ 2 βt 2 The same parameters are applied in the following analysis. The
⎪ A′22 = βc i + 2 (1 − μ) λ
⎪ A′23 = −β i relationship between reduction factor of ring rib stiffness and critical
⎨ c
buckling load is shown in Fig. 8.
⎪ A′13 = βc + βa μλ
⎪ 2
⎪ A′33 = 1 (2ξt (1 − μ) i 2λ2 + ξa λ2 (μi 2 + λ2 ) + ξc i 2 (μλ2 + i 2 )) + βc
⎪ α
⎪ A″33 = (1 − μ2 ) χ ( 1 λ2 + i 2 )
⎪ 2
⎪ A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = 0
⎩ 11 22 13 23 12 (59)

The coefficients in Eq. (59) are applied and the coefficient matrix is
assumed equal to 0. Then, the effects of different stiffness of cylindrical
shell on its critical buckling load can be obtained. Fig. 7 shows the
relationships between different membrane stiffness factors and critical
buckling stress. It can be seen that the circumferential membrane
stiffness has the maximum influence on the load carrying capacity of
cylindrical shell, which can cause 80% reduction in the critical buckling
stress, while the axial bending stiffness has smaller influence on the
stability of cylindrical shell. According to Eq. (59), circumferential
buckling waveform is the dominant factor affecting the circumferential Fig. 8. Relationship between reduction factor of ring rib stiffness and critical buckling
membrane stiffness and bending stiffness. load.

59
X. Bai et al. Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62

From Fig. 8, it can be seen that the overall buckling load of ring-
stiffened cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure declines with the
decrease of reduction factor of ring rib stiffness κ, while the circumfer-
ential buckling wave number increases with the decrease of κ. When κ
approaches 0, the change of buckling mode makes the buckling load of
ring-stiffened cylindrical shell to rapidly converge to that of a smooth
cylindrical shell, that is, the ring rib bending reduction factor κ covers
all possible total buckling values of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell.
Therefore the imperfection of ring ribs can be converted into a
reduction factor of ring rib bending stiffness when dealing with the
total buckling problem of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell.
The present research assumes that each ring rib has the same initial
imperfection level and that the ring rib bending stiffness is reduced,
that is to say, each ring rib has the same reduction factor. However, it is Fig. 10. Relationship between the bending stiffness factor of single ring rib and the
not realistic in construction. Therefore, the following studies focus on critical buckling load.
the investigation of the influence of each ring rib bending stiffness
reduction factor on the overall buckling load of ring-stiffened cylind- shell can be appropriately increased while that near two ends of
rical shell under hydrostatic pressure. In order to clarify the influences, cylindrical shell can be decreased to improve the total stability of
the ring rib torsional stiffness can be neglected, and the total bending ring-stiffened cylindrical shell. This shows a good agreement with the
strain energy can be written as, calculation results obtained by Finite Element Method.
When multiple ring ribs have different bending stiffness reduction
L / l −1
EIπ ⎛ jπnl ⎞2
Vzbr = ∑ (−wi 2 + vi )2 sin ⎜ ⎟ factor, in order to simplify the calculation process, the reduction factor
r 3 ⎝ L0 ⎠ (61)
n =1 of each ring rib κn can be converted into the mean reduction factor κ of
all ring ribs. Then, the buckling load of cylindrical shell with different
then Eq. (60) becomes
reduction factor of each ring ribs can be calculated from Eq. (60), and
⎧ 2⎛ ⎛ ⎞⎞ the transition relation can be determined by Eq. (63),
⎪ A′22 = i 2 + 1 (1 − μ) λ2 + EAi (1 − zr ) + 2EIi2 ⎜ L − sin2 ⎜ jπnl ⎟ ⎟
2

⎪ 2 Kl LKr ⎝ 2l ⎝ L ⎠⎠ L / l −1
⎪ κ= ∑ χn κn
2EIi 2
⎪ + κ 2 sin ( L ) 2 jπnl
n =1 (63)
⎪ LKr
⎪ EAi EAi 2EIi3 L
⎛ ⎛ jπnl ⎞ ⎞ where κn is the stiffness reduction factor of the n-th ring rib; χn is the
⎪ A′23 = −i − 2Kl (1 − zr ) − 2Kl (1 − zr i 2 ) − L Kr 2 ⎜ 2l0 − sin2 ⎜ L ⎟ ⎟
⎪ 0 ⎝ ⎝ 0 ⎠⎠ weight coefficient of the n-th ring rib bending stiffness reduction factor
L / l −1
⎨ ⎛ jπnl ⎞ relative to the total bending stiffness factors.∑n =1 χn = 1. Since the
⎪ −κ
2EIi3
sin2 ⎜ L ⎟ bending stiffness reduction factor of single ring rib has a linear
⎪ L 0 Kr 2 ⎝ 0⎠
⎪ relationship with the critical buckling load, the relationship can be
⎪ ⎛
2EIi 4 L 0 ⎛ ⎞⎞ expressed as
1 2 EA 2 jπnl
⎪ A′33 = α (i + λ ) + 1 + Kl (1 − zr i ) + KL 0 r 2 ⎜⎝ 2l − sin ⎜⎝ L 0 ⎟⎠ ⎟⎠
2 2 2

⎪ 2l ⎛ nπl ⎞2
⎪ 2EIi 4 ⎛ jπnl ⎞ 2λ2Ikr (1 − μ) i2 (L 0 / 2l − 1) χn = sin ⎜ ⎟
⎪ +κ sin2 ⎜ L ⎟ + L0 ⎝ L0 ⎠ (64)
⎩ L 0 Kr 2 ⎝ 0⎠ 3αt 3L 0

(62)
3.3. Effects of shell stiffness of cylindrical shell on the load carrying
Substituting the corresponding coefficients in Eq. (28) with Eq.
capacity
(62), the formula of influence of each ring rib on the overall buckling
load of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell can be calculated. Take the
The relationship between membrane stiffness reduction factor β of
example of the parameters of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell above, the
smooth cylindrical shell and critical buckling load is stated above, and
serial number of the ring ribs is shown in Fig. 9.
herein the membrane stiffness reduction factor of ring-stiffened
Fig. 10 shows the influence on bending stiffness factor of a reduced
cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure is considered. The relative
single ring rib on the total stability of cylindrical shell. According to the
items of membrane stiffness reduction factor of shell can be multiplied
symmetry of ring rib position, only the influences of half the number of
by the reduction factor β, then it becomes,
ring ribs in the cylindrical shell on the total stability are considered.
From Fig. 10, it can be seen that the effect of each ring rib is different ⎧ A′ = β (λ2 + 1 (1 − μ) i 2 )
⎪ 11 2
and the ring ribs near the middle of cylindrical shell in the longitudinal ⎪ A′ = − β (1 + μ) iλ
direction have more significant effect. Therefore when the ring rib in ⎪ 12 2
cylindrical shell is designed, on the premise of guaranteeing weight is ⎪ A′13 = βμλ
⎪
kept constant, the ring rib stiffness near middle position of cylindrical ⎪ ⎛1 2 ⎞
⎪ A″33 = (1 − μ ) ⎜⎝ 2 λ + i ⎟⎠
2 2

⎪
⎪ 1 EAi 2 EIi 2
⎨ A′22 = β (i 2 + 2 (1 − μ) λ2 ) + Kl (1 − zr ) + 2
⎪ Klr
⎪ A′23 = −βi − EAi (1 − zr ) − EAi (1 − zr i 2 ) − EIi3
⎪ 2Kl 2Kl Klr 2
⎪ 1 2 4 2 2
2 )2 + β + EA (1 − z i 2 ) + EIi + 2λ Ikr (1 − μ) i (L 0 / 2l − 1)
A
⎪ 33′ = ( i + λ r
α Kl Klr 2 3αt 3L 0
⎪ A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = A″ = 0
⎪ 11 22 13 23 12
⎪ zr = zr / r
⎪ λ = jπr / L
⎩ 0

Fig. 9. Serial number of ring ribs in the cylindrical shell.

(65)

60
X. Bai et al.
Fig. 11. Relationship between shell membrane stiffness reduction factors and overall
buckling load.
Fig. 12. Relationship between critical buckling loads and simultaneous reduction of ring
ribs and shell joint stiffness.
Applying the coefficients of Eq. (65), the relationship between shell
membrane stiffness reduction factors and overall buckling load can be
obtained. Fig. 11 shows the relationship based on the above para-
meters. It can be seen that the critical buckling loads decrease with the
increase of membrane stiffness reduction factor of shell structure β.
The rate of decrease of critical buckling load becomes more and more
rapid with the decrease of β. However, the buckling mode does not
change.
For realistic ring-stiffened cylindrical shell, the imperfections of
shell and ring rib are inevitable leading to reductions in the stiffness of
shell and ring rib simultaneously. The following study focuses on the
influence of the combined stiffness on the total stability of ring-
stiffened cylindrical shell under hydrostatic pressure. Fig. 12 gives
the trend of critical buckling load with the reduction of both ring ribs
and shell stiffness. It can be seen that three curves have the similar
trends with the variation of β. For the same value of β, the critical
buckling load increase with the increase of ring rib stiffness reduction
factorκ, and have the same tendency. So it can be concluded that when
the ring ribs imperfection and shell imperfection exist in the structure,
the reduction value of critical buckling load can be calculated by
considering only the shell imperfection or ring rib imperfection. Then,
the reduction values are added together, which can be regarded as the
reduction value for the combined effects of shell and ring rib
imperfections. The discrepancies can be neglected due to the almost
same difference in critical buckling loads for different ring rib stiffness
reduction factor.
4. Conclusions and remarks
The total potential energy of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell is
divided into constant component, linear component and square non-
linear component. The total potential energy item that affects the stable
61
Ocean Engineering 135 (2017) 52–62
load of cylindrical shell is clarified, and the buckling loads of smooth
cylindrical shell and ring-stiffened cylindrical shell are derived. Then,
the trends of buckling load of cylindrical shell with different stiffness
variations are given by analyzing the influence of all strain energies on
the buckling process of cylindrical shell. The following conclusions can
be drawn:
(1) The circumferential membrane stiffness has the largest influence
on the stability of cylindrical shell, while the axial bending stiffness
has the least influence. The circumferential buckling waveform is
the main reason for the influence of circumferential membrane
stiffness and bending stiffness, while the axial buckling waveform
is the main reason for the influence of the axial membrane stiffness
and bending stiffness.
(2) Ring ribs have a significant effect on the stability of ring-stiffened
cylindrical shells under hydrostatic pressure, especially the ring
ribs locate in the middle position along the length of the cylindrical
shell. Therefore, in the design process of cylindrical shell, on the
premise of guaranteeing that weight is kept constant, the ring rib
stiffness near middle position of cylindrical shell can be appro-
priately increased while that near two ends of cylindrical shell can
be decreased to improve the total stability of ring-stiffened
cylindrical shell.
(3) For the smooth cylindrical shell, the membrane stiffness and
bending stiffness reductions will induce change of cylindrical shell
buckling mode. The circumferential buckling wave numbers de-
creases with the membrane stiffness reduction, while it increase
induced by the bending stiffness reduction. For the total buckling
of ring-stiffened cylindrical shell, the change of circumferential
buckling wave number of cylindrical shell with the membrane
stiffness reduction of shell is not obvious, whereas, it increases
with the bending stiffness reduction of ring ribs.
Acknowledgement
This work is partially funded by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51409128 and 51679055),
University Natural Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province
(Grant No. 14KJB570001), the Scientific Research Foundation for
Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars of Heilongjiang Province, China
(Grant No. LC2013C18), and Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Foundation
(Grant No. LBH-Z13061).
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