Edge Load Solutions for Conical Shells

Solutions of the governing equations for truncated conical shells are developed for stress couples and transverse shear resultants at each end of the shell. Because of the rapid dissipation of the bending and transverse shear effects caused by these loads (bending boundary layer), these edge load solutions prove useful in the analysis of all but extremely short shells subjected to a variety of loads. In any analysis of a conical shell under axially symmetric lateral and in-plane loads, the edge load solutions developed in the paper can be used as the homogeneous solution. Using the unspecified edge loads in the satisfaction of displacement or stress boundary, or both, all lateral displacement, slope, moment, or shear boundary conditions at one end of the shell are essentially uncoupled from the boundary conditions at the other end, except for the shortest of shells. Hence, the use of edge load solutions for the homogeneous solution results in great savings in effort, time, and complexity in obtaining solutions to shell problems.