Thermomechanical postbuckling of composite laminated cylindrical shells with local geometric imperfections

The e}ect of local geometric imperfections on the buckling and postbuckling of composite laminated cylindrical shells subjected to combined axial compression and uniform temperature loading was investigated[ The two cases of compressive postbuckling of initially heated shells and of thermal postbuckling of initially compressed shells are considered[ The formulations are based on a boundary layer theory of shell bucklingwhich includes the e}ects of the nonlinear prebuckling deformation\ the nonlinear large de~ection in the postbuckling range and the initial geometric imperfection of the shell[ The analysis uses a singular per! turbation technique to determine buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths[ Numerical examples are presented that relate to the performances of cross!ply laminated cylindrical shells with or without initial local imperfections\ from which results for isotropic cylindrical shells follow as a limiting case[ Typical results are presented in dimensionless graphical form for di}erent parameters and loading conditions[ 0887 Elsevier Science Ltd[ All rights reserved