Roger Milligan
Published: 1965
Total Pages: 130
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The general applicability of orthotropic stability theory to aerospace shell structures was examined experimentally. For this purpose a series of careful experiments were performed on orthotropically stiffened cylinders designed to fail in the elastic general instability mode under three separate loading conditions: axial compression, torsion and hydrostatic pressure. Experimental results obtained during the program verified that for all loading conditions considered linear orthotropic theory results in accurate predictions of cylinder strength. As a result of observed discrepancies between experiment and previously existing theory for longitudinally stiffened cylinders under axial compression, theoretical studies were initiated which resulted in the discovery of a new asymmetric failure mode for this cylinder configuration. Based on this new failure mode, good correlation between experiment and theory was obtained except when the longitudinal stiffened cylinder configurations approached that corresponding to an isotropic cylinder. Other theoretical investigations performed during the program established that cylinder boundary conditions have a pronounced effect on the buckling strength of orthotropic cylinders under hydrostatic pressure loading.