Stability of a Submerged Stiffened Cylinder

The possibility of local panel buckling in the hull is investigated. The configuration of a section of the hull is idealized to be a thin cylindrical shell with discrete, internal, circumferential and longitudinal stiffeners. The loading is idealized to be composed to two parts which are (1) A uniform external pressure applied to the hull and to the bulkheads, and (2) an axial load which is applied through the bulkheads. An analytical procedure is presented which predicts the pressure necessary for buckling in the case of a specified axial load. Results of the analytical procedure are given for five possible hull configurations as well as for a case whose experimental buckling pressure had been reported earlier. Consequently the results of this study can be used to help evaluate various hull designs. Results deduced by the procedure presented here have application to the design of caissons, tunnels and possibly large pipelines.