Nonlinear Buckling Characteristics of Ring-stiffened Circular Cylinders under Uniform External Pressure

This study aimed to analyze the nonlinear buckling of ring-stiffened circular cylinders under uniform external pressure, e.g. hydrostatic pressure, considering material nonlinearity and initial imperfection. In the present study, we analyzed the collapse pressure of pressure vessels using ANSYS Workbench, which is a framework of finite element methods. First, linear buckling analysis is performed to find collapse modes of the model. Second, scaling the first mode shape with small factor, geometric model is pre-deformed. And then, by analyzing the nonlinear buckling of the pre-deformed shape, the collapse pressure is estimated. To verify the validity of the analyses, we compared the results with Ross' experimental results. Finally, we applied it to ring-stiffened circular cylindrical shell of the pressure hull of a small submarine.