Elastic Buckling of Conical Shells under the Combined Loading of Axial Compression and External Pressure

This paper details development of a test rig for buckling tests of shell components subjected to pressure and, or axial (centric or eccentric) loading. Test results were obtained for conical shells made from Mylar. These delivered interactive stability diagrams. The effect of off-axis axial compression on the buckling strength of pressurised cone is also given. Shape measurements provided information on the quality of tested models. The latter includes the magnitudes and positions of the inward and outward localised shape distortions. Experimental data is compared with numerical predictions of failure loads for the case of geometrically perfect models. The comparison of experimental results with numerically predicted buckling loads is poor. In addition to large imperfections other possible sources contributing to the large discrepancy between experimental and theoretical results are also discussed.