Bifurcation buckling and free vibrations of cylindrical shells under pressure

Abstract This paper presents asymptotic solutions for the free vibrations of a circular cylindrical shell subjected to uniform pressure. A simple formula is derived for the natural frequency, which is valid for all possible combinations of the boundary conditions characterizing simply supported, clamped, and free ends. The formula can also be used to evaluate the buckling pressure. It is shown that both the free-vibration and the buckling characteristics depend on whether the ends of the cylinder are free or supported and on whether or not the supported ends are axially constrained.